Inspire from Where You Are | Dr. Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD, Author

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.

[00:00:15] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Well, hold on, Maria. Thank you so much for having me Maria, 

[00:00:18] Mike Koelzer, Host: for those that haven't come across, you tell us who you are and tell the listeners why we're talking today. 

[00:00:24] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: My name is Maria, and I'm going to be a pharmacy for almost 12 years. And I'm here just to talk about another path that I've added to. My practice as a pharmacist.

I love writing. I've been doing it for my patients, writing out brochures, presentations, breaking down very complex material and finding out a way to deliver that to them in a most powerful way to make their life better. 

[00:00:47] Mike Koelzer, Host: How many stores? 

[00:00:50] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Uh, three, three 

[00:00:51] Mike Koelzer, Host: stores.

[00:00:54] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: The owners were incredible. Um, they were very flexible. I remember my first meeting as a review and, you know, they said we're very wealthy people and the letters that we get in from your clinical programs and your classes. Are just mind blowing and we can, we are going to give you a race and they were very generous with raises, but we cannot put a value on that.

Um, and that just pushed me further to kind of, you know, go and impact people in the community and, you know, do my classes, uh, go out to the community, uh, have the brown bags, um, have the CMRs face-to-face medical consultations go through all their medications. What do you mean? They 

[00:01:32] Mike Koelzer, Host: can't put a value 

[00:01:33] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: on it?

You can't put a monetary value on it. I could, what did that mean to you? Exactly what my goal was, um, something that you know is valued beyond money. It's 

[00:01:46] Mike Koelzer, Host: actually like, look at, you're doing things that are wonderful and we're going to, we're going to be able to pay you at the top of this scale and so on, but what you're doing here, you could change lives and you could really do some powerful stuff.

W we're not set up as a company, too, for some of the miracles that maybe you can do with your communication. We're going to pay you to keep you around, but spread out more because you've got more to offer than we can even. We want to keep you, but you can spread out more than we can even put a dollar value.

[00:02:23] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Yeah. And, and that was such an amazing meeting. Um, and we went through some of the letters that my patients wrote and they were, they were incredible, you know, and I, I started going out more into the community, uh, educating senior citizens, uh, young women for pregnancy, you know, like, you know, uh, pre-planning make sure they're taking the vitamins.

[00:02:42] Mike Koelzer, Host: This would be time that you're not on the benches, they say, but you're there. And so some of these things, you would advertise them and they would come in and you'd give a class to maybe. Three people, maybe 15 people or something in a room, or 

[00:02:56] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: actually one of my very first classes, it was incredible. We had 43 people 

[00:03:01] Mike Koelzer, Host: and this was like a one-time seminar.

I 

[00:03:04] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: would have these at least once a month, we would have a speaker, like, you know, like speaker commercials and things like that. And then you have somebody come to the pharmacy and they're picking up their meds and they say, Hey, how, how do you feel about your medications? Like, what do you mean, oh, you know who you're in a store?

Exactly. Yeah. So there's always things going on. Hey, we're having, we're selling this, we're having a sale, so, Hey, we're having a diabetes class. Are you a diabetic who stopped by the pharmacy to sign up? 

[00:03:32] Mike Koelzer, Host: Oh, just to sign up and then they would sign up for a week later. It's going to be Wednesday 

[00:03:38] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: night. Exactly. So we would sign them up and they would show up.

Exactly. Yeah. 

[00:03:43] Mike Koelzer, Host: Some of them may or may not have been customers. I mean, they were probably store customers, but not necessarily the pharmacy. 

[00:03:49] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Um, some of them were actually not a few classes I had, half of the patients were not. And that was a great business aspect also to bring people because a lot of the time, if you have chronic multiple conditions, you're on a lot of medications and that was the time they wanted to bring in all their medication, ask questions, get educated, learn a lot more that they ever learned in 11.

Um, so from a business aspect that that's, that's a great angle to take. How long were the 

[00:04:15] Mike Koelzer, Host: classes? How many hours? 

[00:04:16] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Uh, one class, uh, we had an hour and a half, so. We're almost three hours long. Uh, 

[00:04:22] Mike Koelzer, Host: How often did you get diabetes? Like once a month, at least once a month. Yep. And then you would do other ones, like the other 

[00:04:27] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: week we had hypertension.

Um, I would hold a clinic. Uh, I would invite a dietician eventually, uh, all the ShopRites and, you know, added dietitians. We would have weight management, hypertension, um, and then I would have a list of who, you know, who's interested in why, uh, we have osteoporosis and I would go by the need. And what patients were asking for, you know, what did they want to learn more about?

How did they want to feel more supported and educated about their disease state? We've got this 

[00:04:52] Mike Koelzer, Host: original owner and he says, you're worth a lot, but I'm not going to pay you that much more, but you've got this talent because that helped have these classes then, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Then you have these classes and then.

You're saying to yourself, I'm getting a lot of positive feedback and you're thinking to yourself, I feel like I have to expand more. Where's your next step? Then 

[00:05:14] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: I wanted to reach more people with my skills and my abilities and my goals, um, on a much greater 

[00:05:22] Mike Koelzer, Host: scale. 

[00:05:25] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: I set a goal. And if I take that, I can see that I can do more.

So my goals are always growing, you know? And, um, if they're not growing, you know, I say, what else can I do? And one of my mottos is, you know, to fit within your power and your hands to help somebody. Do it, you know, with whatever it is, whether you see that one patient that needs that extra attention, that needs that extra education, whether you need to go a little extra to call the physician and kind of, you know, come up with the best optimal therapy.

Um, and for me I think writing. And there I started writing for students to get into med school, to get into pharmacy school, to get into a physical therapy school. And I started seeing kind of a snowball effect of what the power of my writing had. 

[00:06:11] Mike Koelzer, Host: How did people know to contact you for this?

And what I'm hearing from you is that you cheated for that.

[00:06:22] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: So you, when you go to apply for professional letters, you need a professional, strong recommendation. 

[00:06:28] Mike Koelzer, Host: They needed that to get into a school, correct? Yeah, you're trying to get into a school and they need other professionals to write 

[00:06:35] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: for them. I don't know that I do all 

[00:06:38] Mike Koelzer, Host: schools require 

[00:06:39] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: that, um, pretty much.

Yeah. Two, three recommendations, professional recommendations. 

[00:06:43] Mike Koelzer, Host: Yep. So you're writing these for them. Did you know 

[00:06:47] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: that? Um, I would not put my name on it unless I professionally worked with them or they volunteered with me or there was a student with me where they worked on one project or another seems 

[00:06:57] Mike Koelzer, Host: like if I'm in your shoes, I'm saying not only do I enjoy this, but I seem to be.

Impactful with my messages. 

[00:07:08] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Exactly. Yeah. It, and that's what leads me towards the way I want to practice and the ways that I want to go, I have to have an impact. Um, I have to have, you know, things that I'm doing that are aligned with my goals and the path that I want to take as a healthcare professional.

[00:07:22] Mike Koelzer, Host: You've got this. World that you're building in. And I am going to call it little because it gets bigger here a little bit, and you're helping the students that come to you and you're helping their customers. And this is a few years into your career and you're doing all this stuff already. So about 10 years ago, you're doing this.

And then this is just about the time where. Social media has really taken off. And if I'm in your shoes, I'm saying, all right, I've had this little impact here on my part of social media, then start to play a part in this. 

[00:08:04] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: You know, I think as a healthcare professional or wherever you are in your community, people know you for something, you guess you haven't, you have a reputation, I would say.

Right? So you got, I hope, um, you know what, you're what you're known for. You know, if you're a pharmacist, that's amazing compounding and you have a patient, you know, with a script that. You know, has the ingredients that I know who to call for compounds, you know, Hey, I need this, you know, for this patient, I would.

So everyone has a specialty, if you will. I think people know if there's certain things to come to a pharmacist, you know, if, uh, if I had a patient, um, that did not have insurance or coverage and they needed that insulin, they knew to come to me from other pharmacists to make sure I could call the pharmaceutical company.

I can get them that medication I would push and fight. Um, you know, go to the resources and use them to get the care that my patient needs that make action and kind of on a personal level in the community also too, you know, people would approach me and say, Hey, I know you're a pharmacist. You know, you may help me with this.

And just a few months ago, there was a woman, uh, in a third world country. And you, you asked me about social media and I used out, um, and I reached out to a lot of my connections to help her provide a very expensive, um, you know, breast cancer medication. To a third world country. Um, so using social media for a good reason, you know, for a good goal, it's incredible, you know, people do call it to help and they want to help you in many different ways.

When you do ask for that help. Um, and this one project, somebody called and said we had, it was a big, uh, outreach meeting. And, uh, a woman, I met a woman and her daughter, basically they escaped their country because, um, you know, she was kidnapped many times to get married. 

[00:09:49] Mike Koelzer, Host: This is one of your store's Kmart shoppers meeting.

No, 

[00:09:54] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: no, this is a kind of a, it was a community outreach dinner would be 

[00:09:57] Mike Koelzer, Host: helpful. Yeah. Not really a pharmacy thing. 

[00:10:00] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: No, not at all. Yeah. So this is the personal yeah. And they said, you know, and she told me this story, this incredible story of her daughter. Um, she was kidnapped and they escaped their country, uh, you know, for a better life, because in one of the last few instances, they were free, you know, that the daughter would lose her life.

Um, and she was, um, you know, held within the detention center. And I just, I thought about it. I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about it as a mother, myself, and, you know, being very protective of my children. And I said, you know, what can I do as a pharmacist? How can I leverage my position? My knowledge, my skills, my writing abilities, what can I do?

And I just started calling. I started calling my friends who are lawyers. I started calling the law firm that was representing her. And this 18 year old girl. And, um, I finally got a hold of this one lawyer, and this was New Year's Eve. And, you know, I said, Hey, I want to write a letter. And she said, well, I'm going away on the plane.

And I said, she's like, you have 28 minutes. And out of all, the amazing letters that I ever wrote in my entire life, This was, this was one of the best. So I'm free. I have 20 minutes to write this letter to submit to her lawyer. That's representing her before she gets on this plane to submit to a judge.

And I write this letter and, um, and I submit it, you know, I said, this is kind of, I'm not a lawyer. You know, this is not my specialty. What can I do? And I did my best. I wrote that letter and it was, it was pretty amazing. About two days later, I got a phone call from the mom and her lawyer that the girl was released.

And I said, you know, wow, this goes, you know, I took the stand as a healthcare professional, um, you know, on all the angles that we're trained and what we can do for, you know, to help somebody. And, um, a few weeks later she was a roommate at the detention center with another young girl. And she said, I, you know, I don't want to ask you more, but could you help me too?

And I said, of course, how can I not? And I, you know, I started calling. Trying to get a hold of her lawyer. And her lawyer was an amazing lawyer. She's a Columbia trained law school lawyer. And she said, I know your pharmacist. I know this, you know, this happened, but I don't know if this is going to work for this case.

And I said, I want to try. I want to try. So I wrote this letter, um, based on the health issue, she was happy again, I took my stand, uh, the value of a pharmacist. I'm like, what if the judge that's reading is, you know, loves their pharmacist. You know, their family members department, they have to respect our value as a pharmacist, healthcare professional, take the stand.

And I did, and her and her husband were actually one case. So if I was. Successful in this, writing this letter and attaining the goal of setting them free. And their story was incredible because he was a firefighter in a different country. And he was actually an award winning firefighter. And here we love our firemen every day they go to work and, you know, they, they sacrifice their lives to serve us, to keep us safe.

And I said, how can I not help him? So about nine days later, I got a phone call from the lawyer, which she doubted kind of, you know, she said, you can try, you know, but she does. And, and the girl and her husband, and they were both, you know, released. Wow. It was amazing. Like I have no feelings to describe, you know, where, you know, it was just kind of hit me with a ton of bricks.

Um, what a pharmacist can do. It's it's beyond it's beyond 

[00:13:21] Mike Koelzer, Host: anything. I know you said you did a lot of help with, you know, reaching out for a copay card for somebody or trying to get this covered or so on. Was this the first time that you felt like you really expanded by the lawyers and out of the country and all that kind 

[00:13:38] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: of stuff?

I started a lot of volunteering and also in pharmacy school. We did, um, we started a needle exchange program to kind of get into the public and help people. Um, they really need help, um, educating on the proper use of needles and things like that to lower the transmission of certain STDs and HIV and things like that.

Um, I held a lot of clinics for Rite aid as a student, um, just volunteering and doing things. And as I got more into the pharmacy and learning and seeing the aspect and the impact we can make. I just kind of started doing more so not as a first time, but on this level, this was the first time. So every day on this level to see the great impact with what we can possibly do.

And this was out of my scope. I do not have a law degree. Um, I have a pharm D you know, um, This was very different. And I try to use the degree I have with experience, I have, um, with, you know, with my stand in the community and with my experience, you know, to take a different stand, especially without that law degree, it was kind of scary.

Can I do something like that? You know this, so I know, I know pharmacy regulations, but I don't know immigration, you know, regulations, immigrants. I am actually. Yeah. Yeah. I asked from Ukraine. So I came when I was seven and a half 1992. 

[00:14:57] Mike Koelzer, Host: Any of these things I'm hearing about, about helping people? It seems to me that somewhere along the line, you picked up almost a mandate.

You're going to be larger than your Dow, larger than your job. Where does that come from? Because. Some days. My goal is to try not to have too many bowls of butter, pecan ice cream. That's my goal, you know, and it's a good goal because if you have too much, you're not going to be there for your family.

You're going to have heart disease and all that, but it's simple. And it seems like you come from an expansive vision. Where's that from? 

[00:15:33] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: That's a good question. Um, you know, as immigrants, you come, you start with nothing. And just that goal that drives you to succeed, uh, you know, to make everything that you've been through worth it, everything that your parents went through and sacrificed for you to make it worth it.

When you saw your parents 

[00:15:51] Mike Koelzer, Host: doing 

[00:15:51] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: my mom has always been doing this ever since we came to the country. Ever since she was like, you know, in college, uh, just helping people in any aspect, 

[00:16:01] Mike Koelzer, Host: But thanks, struggled a bit being an immigrant compared to somebody who wasn't and you picked up on that. Oh, 

[00:16:08] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: absolutely.

I absolutely saw it. Yeah. And any immigrant that's listening to this? Can I, I bet, relate instantly? What was tough for them back there? They had the highest education. My dad was an engineer, a five, six year degree. My mom was an economist. They were both big bosses working for them. And Ukraine, they had amazing jobs, very educated, very influential.

Uh, they had amazing projects and jobs and you come here, you don't know the language and you're starting from scratch with your degree, but their degree did not carry over. No, unfortunately, 

[00:16:40] Mike Koelzer, Host: because of different 

[00:16:41] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: credentialing and different credentials. Um, yeah. And the language, if you don't know the language, how can you practice your degree?

And people might 

[00:16:49] Mike Koelzer, Host: look at them. 

[00:16:51] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Absolutely. Yeah. And I, and I saw that I still see it sometimes when I was at the store. If somebody doesn't speak perfect English, they say, oh, I don't understand you. And like, you know, somebody in front of the line condescending. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. 

[00:17:05] Mike Koelzer, Host: So your mom and dad come over, they have these degrees and they drop down to try to do their best to rise back up.

[00:17:13] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Exactly. Yeah. And kind of give us the chance we came here as refugees, we had that status and just, it was getting really bad. Um, you know, communist country it's yeah. W it was not, we, we literally barely just got out in time. It was not a good time to be there. Cause we talked to some people that were left behind and it was, it was, it 

[00:17:34] Mike Koelzer, Host: was tough.

Your expenses from being the child of immigrants. Yeah. A lot of children of immigrants share a lot of that. 

[00:17:43] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: We do. Yeah, like instantly I, there was a celebrity, I was watching a show and she was also from Ukraine. And she was saying, um, you know, right away, I knew exactly what she's talking about. You just, you have that connection.

[00:17:55] Mike Koelzer, Host: So you help these people. And that's impactful. And some people would say, this is good. I want to keep doing it. But it seems that you want to keep doing bigger things. Is that right? 

[00:18:07] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Or not bigger? And just, my goal was always, um, to impact more people. I mean, that's why I ultimately went to pharmacy school between that or med school.

Um, I took the same prerequisites. And at the time, it's actually easier to get into med school than pharmacy school. And I said, whatever's going to have to happen. You know, I got into pharmacy school and like that's a lot shorter, so I'm going to take that path. Um, and that was my ultimate goal to help people, um, you know, to see what I saw growing up.

Um, little things that I didn't like in healthcare, and if it doesn't sit well with me, I want to kind of help support that help kind of initiate something to change it, or to make it better for somebody playing 

[00:18:48] Mike Koelzer, Host: your part in that, but then making it better sort of inside the system yet kind of outside the system, it feels like there's a lot of people that say they want to make things better, but it's all outside the system.

And then that's going to look like there's people there. Get tied down inside the system and say, I can't do anything because I'm stuck in this system. Right. It seems like marina that you are blending those two by using your powers in this system to expand. 

[00:19:24] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Yeah. And, and a great example of that. Um, as I was growing up, I acted as a translator to, you know, to take somebody to a medical appointment.

Um, especially when I was in pharmacy school, kind of, you know, to see an eye, I took, um, somebody to the free clinic and just how they were being treated. You know, they were not counseled. They didn't know they were given medication, but they were not educated on it. And later, um, I went to volunteer at that same clinic and, you know, I held little brown bags and I, and I encouraged other pharmacists to do the extra step to, you know, to educate that, to do a little more.

[00:20:01] Mike Koelzer, Host: So, Maria, you change the lives of these people. You've done it through. Uh, Kern does not ever go through your head of saying, I'm going to go back to school and be an attorney or to use, to say I am so happy. I am where I am with my pharmacy degree period. 

[00:20:23] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Yeah, I did think about it actually, my mom brought it up to me.

She said, I think you should go to law school and just open up an organization. And that, I think that was my ultimate goal to have a non-profit organization. And we're kind of working with a few people on something like this, um, all different from different states of how we can combine. I have a few friends that are attorneys and I feel.

It's just kind of, everybody gives in a little bit, a lot can be done to help others. Okay. But 

[00:20:51] Mike Koelzer, Host: where 

Does the attorney fit in there? You decide then that you didn't want to be 

one. 

[00:20:55] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: I'm still debating. 

[00:20:56] Mike Koelzer, Host: Actually, my mom put the thought into my head because I think of pharmacy and law. might be a very powerful tool at this point in my life.

I don't think I'm ready to take that because my family needs me, you know, a little more right now than going full-time, you know, school, but it's, it's, it's in the back of my head, the seed, the seed has been planted. I wouldn't do 

1. There ain't no pharmacist jokes. Hey, did you hear about the pharm? You know, People don't like attorneys that tell you something.

There's no pharmacist 

jokes, 

[00:21:29] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Mike, 

[00:21:29] Mike Koelzer, Host: you know, so 

[00:21:30] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: initially I did not become an attorney because that's what I 

[00:21:33] Mike Koelzer, Host: initially 

[00:21:33] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: thought. 

[00:21:35] Mike Koelzer, Host: I think there's a lot of cool stuff you can do by saying you're not an attorney. Yeah. That's true. We say, all right, we may not be an attorney. We may build this organization. And so on.

Is that where we are right now? Is that the level of where you're at right now? Or is there another step to 

[00:21:51] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: this? So with the writing project, My friend suggested, why don't you go and just kind of search projects, writing projects, what you can contribute with your experience. 

[00:22:03] Mike Koelzer, Host: Is there something that I miss about a writing project 

[00:22:06] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: there's a website?

Um, pretty much you can apply to, um, and for projects, whether it's a telehealth project, whether it's a medical device, you know, protocol, whether it's a chronic management protocol, whether it's, uh, Mental health website, which was one of my first few projects. What do you mean? What does that mean? When I say project it's something, not just you do it, kind of just write something for it.

Uh, you build up on it, you contribute. Your contact, you contribute your professional experience. You contribute professional education to that. I would say project and health and grow. You're not paid for this. You are actually, you are. 

[00:22:47] Mike Koelzer, Host: I was going to say this was something like audacity or Wikipedia or something like this, where you're just kind of, it's kind of like a group or whatever, but, but you are getting paid 

[00:22:59] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: for that.

So my initial goal was not to get paid for it. Just pick up things where I can contribute my writing, where it can contribute my experience to have an impact. Right. And, uh, what I applied for the first few projects and having the interviews and having the conversation with, I would say to my clients now, you know, you are getting paid for it.

And, um, it's, it's, it's, it's been pretty amazing. Yeah. 

[00:23:24] Mike Koelzer, Host: Profit or nonprofit, but they're trying to build up a web presence and then you're adding content to this. 

[00:23:30] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: So, this one would be a nonprofit right now. Another one I worked on, um, I can't say the need yet until everything's, you know, signed up, but it's a virtual telehealth website.

So it's like an urgent care website. Like you dial and you see a physician. Um, and they only hire physicians that have graduated from the top 50 medical schools all over the country. So they went to, uh, like say I saw that and I said, Hey, let me just see what I can contribute as a pharmacist.

And they were only looking for MDs. And I said, okay. So I looked at the website and. Um, you know, they're prescribing these medications. There has to be some kind of patient education here. So I pitched to them the idea of having a pharmacist, being a content editor, you know, to review the medication information through email, to them or calling it.

Yep. Yep. And then, um, we, we talk, we have, uh, just, just like this, we have a meeting and I said, this is what I can do. And, um, you 

[00:24:26] Mike Koelzer, Host: got the meeting by like I'm being interested in your first 

[00:24:29] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: year. Exactly. Yeah. I said, I S I see your MDs are, you know, reviewing your medications, your content, the counseling. I think a pharmacist has a different angle.

Um, just the way we are trained to think, you know, I can do so much more. So they got a budget approved and that's what my next thing will be. Um, there's somebody, she was a guest. I can't say her name yet. She was, you know, on Dr. Oz, you know, like seven times. And she has certain things that she wants to educate the public about.

So, you know, she hired me to help her with the contact and, you know, educating the public about certain topics. Do I 

[00:25:03] Mike Koelzer, Host: have this right? That it's fun. You get paid for it and you're able to be home with your children. All right. We're building here now. You're reaching out.

I came across you, Maria, online by you saying we got to help fellow pharmacists. We've got to help through the COVID and the jobs that are being lost and things like that. It seems like you were wiring up the troops. Like we can help each other. There's another layer to you that we've got to discuss where this 

[00:25:42] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: all goes.

So again, like I mentioned earlier, if I see something and it doesn't sit well with me, I have to do something about that. So for example, you know, in pharmacy school, we are training. To care so much about our patients. You know, we go in depth in the psych block, you know, we learn about the medications and we have to take the best care of our patients, but nobody talks about how are you feeling as a pharmacist?

And I came across some very scary statistics, you know, that pharmacists are taking their own lives. And how is that? Did they not have someone to talk about? I mean, the conditions are all you, you know, whoever's listening, what's going on. The New York Times published two articles already and it went haywire.

You know, people know about it and now people are talking about it and it needs to be talked about, um, and it is, it's so bad that a fellow pharmacist, it could be a fellow colleague of mine, a classmate that took their own life. And it just, it really, really should be talked about. Maybe a pharmacy school may have a lecture on it or a course to cover it, kind of like preparing a pharmacist.

They prepare us so well with the training, but nobody talks about it. How it's going to be and the metrics and certain positions that have a huge stress component for pharmacists 

[00:26:59] Mike Koelzer, Host: tipped you off to this though. Was it in the last few years or last 10 years? Was it a building, did you see stuff or why are we talking?

Now or did COVID bust a lid off of this where a lot of people might be cutting their hours. Why now? Why are 

[00:27:15] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Are we talking now? When I came across this project and I talked to my client again, our conversation was almost two hours long. Originally did not include pharmacists. And I said, this is a great way to talk about pharmacists and not only pharmacy.

All healthcare professionals. And I brought up the topic to him. I said, this needs to be talked about. And he said, sure. And he, he, you know, he's such a great guy and he has such a great heart. And he said, yeah, I want to be included in our project. And I said, you know, pharmacists, they have, and again, other healthcare professionals have to have to learn from it.

They have to know that there's another support and resource for 

[00:27:49] Mike Koelzer, Host: them. Original site. Was it focused on just the general population? Yep. But then you were kind of almost like focusing it to maybe the health professional and so 

[00:27:58] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: on. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I wanted to take it indefinitely, put it in there for healthcare professionals.

This was 

[00:28:04] Mike Koelzer, Host: going to be for everybody. And now it's like, oh yeah, it's for everybody. Oh yeah. But also here is healthcare. People do the whole site kind of lean towards professionals. It would seem. A weird marketing angle to say, let's say for example, that you were a good writer, but you work for the sanitation department.

And we said, here's this website for mental health. And here's the section for sanitation department workers. You know, it seems like an odd subset. How did that work on the 

[00:28:32] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: site? Yeah, so basically it was set for everybody. And, our goal is to get the site in front of as many people as possible that are experiencing some symptoms.

And I think at this point it's really relevant. To everybody, you know, healthcare professionals, um, and everybody in the general public, it could be 

[00:28:51] Mike Koelzer, Host: another writer's on there who happens to be like an accountant and they might write a little bit about accounting or something and the 

[00:28:57] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: stress there. So it has to be a healthcare professional, licensed healthcare professionals, not in accounting.

Anybody that at one point or another on the frontline helped treat or helped in contact with patients or came in contact specifically as first-line responders. 

[00:29:15] Mike Koelzer, Host: Do you think they're mainly going to be healthcare workers or are they going to be from professions across the board? 

[00:29:22] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: So, um, the first week I sent it out to people with a medical background and with people non medical background and the, the, basically the reviews and everything that, the positive feedback that I got, they both viewed it as something that they needed.

A lot of the things the medical professionals were experiencing. Um, they were actually. At this point in their life, this is exactly what they needed. Not just the articles that I, I, we proposed for the pharmacist and healthcare professionals. It was the whole website, every aspect, because they're going through a lot of these symptoms and that you see on the website, I would imagine.

[00:30:00] Mike Koelzer, Host: Some heartfelt things from pharmacists and they're connecting with you because you're a pharmacist. 

[00:30:06] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Absolutely. Yeah. And I, I think it's more important than ever to have that connection and support, you know, it's the least that we can do for each other. Th 

[00:30:15] Mike Koelzer, Host: there's not like a national pharmacy support. Is there?

[00:30:18] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: I don't, I don't think so. No. And I, and I find it shocking, you know, because maybe, yeah, I think I've been talking to some professors at some pharmacy school. To possibly consider that again, to have a lecture or not a course, but some, some form of educational seminar, you know, maybe just sit around and say, if you ever are in this position, you know, how do you deal with it?

How do you cope with it? Because we're trained so well to take care of our patients. Why are we not trained? Pay attention to our mental health. How are we feeling during everything? You know, why does the New York Times have to come up with an article to call attention to it for others to talk about it?

Um, so working on that to see what we can bring to light, um, to see how we can kind of put that into pharmacy schools to help our pharmacists and the future generations of pharmacists. If 

[00:31:13] Mike Koelzer, Host: You had 25 hours a week, Only to give to all the things that we talked about and money was not an issue. How would that 25 hours break down like three or five years from now?

[00:31:30] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Well, hopefully I'll be retired in five years now. Just kidding. So, um, that's a great question. I think I love teaching and I think within a little bit, I am going to go back to teaching in a pharmacy school, in a pharmacy school. Yeah. In a, in a doctor program. Yeah. Um, definitely. Going to see where I'm going to take the idea of my nonprofit organization, to what level capacity, you know, where that's going to turn out that 

[00:31:56] Mike Koelzer, Host: about 15 at 25 hours right there, teaching and doing that.

Yes. 

[00:32:01] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: I always have to do more. And you do 40 

[00:32:04] Mike Koelzer, Host: or, or, or more 

[00:32:07] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: probably. Yeah. And if I do have to narrow it to 25. I, you know, I've been getting really good at scheduling meetings and projects and everything like that. I would somehow. You know, put it in that timeframe. Um, I think for, for my, for, for my writing business now, um, last week I was, I was swamped.

So I'm looking into getting help, you know, for my business. And I think in five years, if those things that we talked about do take off, I would probably get help from others to help me 

[00:32:43] Mike Koelzer, Host: be okay. Not being. 

[00:32:46] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: I definitely always want to keep my foot in dispensing and having that patient contact. 

[00:32:51] Mike Koelzer, Host: Everybody says that, but, but then I get them to admit they don't really want to, um, 

[00:32:54] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: I do.

I, I actually do. Um, I really do. Yeah. 

[00:32:58] Mike Koelzer, Host: Yeah. Listen, you're on Dr. Oz. You've got this book, you've got this big organization and you've got your nonprofit and your teaching and all that stuff. And you're saying I'm going to go work my four hour shift in, uh, in the pharmacy. 

[00:33:16] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: I am. One of my first few patients is who believed in me.

She said, I see you for counseling. I saw you. I stood on the side. I saw you counsel seven patients in a row and you were slow and you took the time 15 to 20 minutes for each patient. That's a lot of time and energy. She said, you got to put a class together. And that was my initial patient that had that faith and respect, you know, for me, that instilled and pushed me to do the Mo the most that I can.

So in a way, I feel like I owe it to my patients. I, I I'm, I'm always going to want to do it. How 

[00:33:49] Mike Koelzer, Host: many hours? 

[00:33:51] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: I think a week of four to six hours would be perfect now. For six hours. When 

[00:33:58] Mike Koelzer, Host: You talk about writing, a lot of it's been focused on our Donaldson. Those that are maybe in medicine, do dream of any other writing.

Are you, are you going to run a big fiction 

[00:34:08] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: novel? This was something I was writing for years and my daughter finally just said, just submit it to submit this book. And it's a children's story, I think everybody on this planet should read this story. It's for children. It's for adults. On top of pharmacist and the suicide rates, I saw their teen suicide rates in that edit, and that, that just killed me.

And so this book center has a great message. It has great values. Um, it explains, you know, we are the way we are, you know, perfectly made and just that self esteem. Like I always wonder what if I talk to that team? You know, what if the message they've read is from this book? What, what impact would it have on them and versus, and another pharmacist that, you know, took their life.

What if they read the story? What, what would the impact they would have on their life? So, I think everybody should read it. The story that you wrote. I wrote, yeah, it took me a few years, um, to write it and I just finally submitted and I thought it was going to take a long time to go back and forth because my friends that have written books said it takes a long time to go over.

And forth with the editor and he called me back and he said, I only found one mistake. And I said, 'cause that's, cause I'm a pharmacist, we're so detailed, you know, we're great. Editors were so detail oriented. Um, you know, so, and he laughed at that. He liked that one of my best 

[00:35:29] Mike Koelzer, Host: friends, his brother, I had never met him, but he took his life a couple of years ago.

Well, I think it's suicide was based on, even though he was very accomplished. He knew, he always felt like he wasn't enough, you know, wasn't enough for his family and so on. And I always talked to my friend about this and it's a little thing I think about it's like, let's say on a scale of one to 10, one is that you're doing fine.

And 10 is that your. Quite close to committing suicide. And it's so weird because I don't know, but let's say I'm at about a four on a scale of anxiety. Let's say I'm in, at scale four and let's say tenants to us. All right. Well, that's really sad because that means I'm still like six spots away from how bad people are feeling when they're suicidal.

But now let's say that instead of a four, let's say that I'm like, unbeknownst to me, let's say I'm like at an eight where I'm closer than I realized. Well, that's scary because then you're closer. Maybe then you think, you know, it's just a weird, it's just so 

[00:36:37] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: sad. It is very sad. Uh, one of my favorites. Yes.

[00:36:45] Mike Koelzer, Host: At the end of Schindler's list. What was his first name? 

[00:36:49] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Nicholas. I don't remember the names, but I know I'm the producer and everything like that. Yeah. I actually have a personal story to that because I actually had a family that died in the home. So that was one of my, I wrote a huge paper in high school on that and making that connection to my family 

[00:37:06] Mike Koelzer, Host: at the very end of Schindler's list.

I feel like I don't have to give a spoiler alert. It's been out for like 20 years, at least 

[00:37:13] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: 20 years. Yeah. I mean, it's not like 

[00:37:15] Mike Koelzer, Host: Someone's going to go, I'm just going to watch that.

Oscar Schindler. That was his name. Oh, that's right. Okay. That's very, Nan Oscar had saved all of these people. Spoiler alert. He saved all these people by putting them to work in his factory and doing all kinds of things. And at the end he felt so bad. He said, I wish I could have saved more hearing and saved all these people and he wished he could have saved more.

And the audience was saying, no, don't feel that way because you did so much. But in his self, he was saying, I wish I could have done more. I could see you in that scene. I'm looking at Maria and you've done a lot, but there be. The furnished line. And I'm not saying that's bad that you don't know where the finish line is, but did you feel like you're in that position sometime all the 

[00:38:15] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: time?

Yeah. Last night I talked to somebody, um, I had a long conversation about something. And they reached out to me from another state and it was like all night. I was thinking about it, you know, I said to my husband, I have to figure something out. And I reached out to other people in different fields. And from Monday I have a plan to do something about it.

So we'll see how that goes. But I, that, I feel that all the time 

[00:38:41] Mike Koelzer, Host: he feels guilty. He thinks he should have done more. And I think he looked at maybe the gold ring on the African to see, but I think we looked at the gold ring on his finger and he said something like, I could have sold this or the change in his pocket.

I could have, I could have bought one more person from my company or something. So I think he felt some guilt, but I imagine you could put a lot of feelings into that, but I could see you in that role, but what are you feeling? What I'm looking at you in this role on the big 

[00:39:09] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: screen. Of what I can keep going, what I can do.

So if you would take that character in the movie that you talked about on Schindler's list, and if it was just inspiration and motivation, what I can keep doing when I get the chance and when the chance presents itself. 

[00:39:28] Mike Koelzer, Host: But now in the movie he was crying. You don't picture yourself crying when you're thinking like that though, which is probably a good thing.

[00:39:36] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: It's tears of joy, not guilt, but just tears of celebration and joy. When you accomplish something that you didn't think of, you know, that was in you. 

[00:39:47] Mike Koelzer, Host: I think the reason that you can think this way is because. There's time left in Schindler's case there wasn't time left because the people died. 

[00:39:57] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: Yeah.

Yeah. I would definitely say, and I, honestly, one of my other goals is just to inspire others to help. Um, you know, a few weeks ago, somebody reached out to me to say, Hey, I saw you working on this. I, and they offered their help. And what we were able to accomplish just with two people, helping and working together was pretty amazing.

That's a great question. Um, so everything revolves around my faith. So for me, we got all this 

[00:40:27] Mike Koelzer, Host: realm of what we just talked about, different people and places and things and all that, that there might be a purpose behind that, whatever you believe in, it seems like you're mimicking it pretty 

[00:40:37] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: well. I will try.

Thank you. And I hope people see that in me and ask about it. That's like one of my things, you know, why or how. I would love it when they asked me about it. Cause I love to tell them thanks 

for 

[00:40:50] Mike Koelzer, Host: being with us and Maria. Thank 

[00:40:52] Maria Glukhovsky, PharmD: you so much, Mike. It was such an honor to be one of your guests and I always learn so much.

And thank you so much, Mike. Thanks, Maria. 

[00:40:58] Mike Koelzer, Host: We will keep in touch. Thank you. Bye bye.