Sam’s Club’s Caven merges passion for people, pharmacy
Sarah Caven
Sam’s Club pharmacy manager Sarah Caven loves people, and it shows in how she treats the patients at the company’s warehouse club in Mankato, Minn.
“I know it’s a cliché, but I’m a people person,” she said recently. “I love the opportunity to talk to the patient. I see them a lot more than they see their physician, and I know that their contact with me is important for them.”
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As manager of the Sam’s Club pharmacy in Mankato, Minn., for the past two and a half years, the 35-year-old Caven oversees a staff that includes herself, another full-time pharmacist and a pair of pharmacy technicians. In addition, she is the company’s pharmacy area manager for Minnesota — overseeing 14 stores in the state — and teaches and trains new Sam’s Club pharmacists in the area. She also is a certified diabetes educator and often works closely with a range of community groups on health fairs and immunization clinics.
“I have a passion for pharmacy,” Caven said. “Since I joined Sam’s Club, I have tried to take that passion and put it into everything I do.”
The most visible evidence of that effort can be seen in the relationship she has developed with her patients. Shoppers in and around Mankato, a city of 41,000 people about 80 miles southwest of Minneapolis, have a wide range of pharmacy options. However, many of those who use the Sam’s Club pharmacy have told Caven that they choose to get their prescriptions filled there because of her presence behind the pharmacy counter.
“I really take the time to get to know them and let them know I care about them,” she said. “I try to find the one thing that sets them apart and makes them special.”
Caven’s highly personalized approach to pharmacy seems to be paying off. While the Sam’s Club in Mankato has existed for 21 years, its pharmacy is only a little over two years old. As a result, the pharmacy is continuing to build its clientele and is one of Sam’s Clubs’ lower-volume prescription operations, filling between 300 and 350 scripts a week.
Still, Caven said that volume is steadily growing — 20% in just the past year — and she expects the growth to continue.
Because her job often takes her away from her club for extended periods, Caven is quick to credit her pharmacy team for the success the Mankato Sam’s Club has seen in its first years. It’s those people, she stressed, who hold down the fort when she is away.
“I think having a pharmacy team that supports you and your initiatives is so helpful,” Caven said. “I would not be able to do what I do without them.”