Our pharmacy department is an integral component of our healthcare delivery system. Serving as the pharmacy office manager for over 10 years is Suzanne Agathluk. This week Suzanne shares her story with us.

Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Suzanne Agathluk and I have lived in Bethel most of my life. I have three children and a dog named Oreo. My first-born son, Paul Smith III, works for YKHC as a lead food service worker. My two younger daughters are Raina and Payton. Payton is my youngest child and attends Glady Jung Elementary. My children are the reason I keep going in spite of life’s challenges. I work really hard and have worked many years to support my children and provide them with what they need.

My mother was Helen S. Sorensen of Kwethluk. My mother’s parents are the late David and Anna K. Nicolai of Kwethluk. My mom passed away in 2018. Many may know her as she worked for TWC for many years. She was known for her loud laugh and her friendly nature. She always tried to talk to anyone and everyone and was friendly to everyone.

What events/situations led you to your current role?

I have worked in different positions at YKHC throughout the years. My first role was at behavioral health as the department secretary for over two years. I also briefly worked in medical records. After a short break, I returned to YKHC in 2011 as an administrative assistant to both the patient care services (PCS) administrator and chief nurse executive for two and a half years. I then transferred to my current position as the pharmacy office manager, a role that I have had for over 10 years. 

When I was hired over 12 years ago, I learned a lot from Patricia Smith who was the PCS administrator at the time. She was a great mentor and supervisor. After about two and half years as her administrative assistant, I was asked if I would be interested in transferring to another role.  I accepted and transferred to pharmacy.  I started training and then fully transferred over to the pharmacy department by the end of January 2014. Since then I have seen many employees, pharmacists and technicians come and go. Some of them return and we always welcome them back knowing that those with previous YKHC pharmacy experience have an edge that is an asset to the pharmacy, YKHC, and our valued patients.

How many years of training/education/experience did it take you to get to where you are today?

I assumed my current role with previous knowledge and experience. These skills helped me transition into my job and helped me with quickly adapting to and learning the roles and responsibilities of an office manager. I have learned so much from my fellow pharmacy employees over the years. I learn new things every day as there is so much to learn and to improve in our personal and professional lives. From little tasks in MS Excel that make the job easier to how to run reports and work with staff and the public daily, my work is a constant learning experience.

How many years have you been an office manager? Challenges?  Successes?

Over the past ten years my job has evolved and changed a lot. I have had great mentors and patient supervisors, teachers, and mentors over the years. I am grateful to learn from each pharmacy director I have had the privilege to work alongside.

What is most rewarding in your role?

 I have had three other pharmacy directors before our current director, Ian Waugh.  Over the years we all have learned many different things from each other that helped us run the pharmacy as efficiently as we can, given the variables that we work with. We have had to overcome many obstacles and challenges. As with any work place, things are always changing and evolving and we do our best to help the patients.

YKHC pharmacy is very unique as we are the only pharmacy within 400 miles. We serve the whole YK-Delta region, which is about the size of Oregon and we are constantly busy. The day goes by fast and the years go by fast as well.

The pharmacy fills medications for patients, day in and day out. All these medications really help save their lives and/or help them live a more enjoyable or healthier lifestyle. For me working in pharmacy cements the importance of the role of pharmacy in delivering quality healthcare. It also helps me to appreciate anyone working in the healthcare field as we are all here for the people that we serve and to help ourselves and our patients become the healthiest people.

How has your work impacted you personally and professionally?

My job has helped me grow as an employee and as a person. I have learned different managerial styles and finding the one that works best for the team takes work and practice. With working with front line staff to learning how to manage schedules for up to 18 employees, approving timecards, completing evaluations, and dealing with day to day issues that arise, the work day can sometimes be both challenging and overwhelming for me and the pharmacy team.  

I have helped with dealing with the staff turnover and how to work with minimal staffing. We have on average 42 to 48 employees in the pharmacy department. I have learned to work with different situations and also learned how different managers deal with different situations. Everyone is different and we all have to work together as a team with the welfare of our patients as first and foremost in our minds to achieve department and YKHC goals.

How has your work impacted YKHC, your department/colleagues and the communities (patients) we serve?

Honestly my career has lasted longer than I thought it would be as an office manager. I have been blessed to have many great supervisors, teachers and mentors who have helped me along the way. I have helped to implement many changes over the years. We have changed the employees’ schedules to better serve the community and found ways to efficiently serve patients and reduce or eliminate wait times. There will be other changes soon as we migrate to ScriptPro, a new pharmacy management system.

Pharmacy uses Amion for scheduling staff. It is so much easier and faster to schedule staff and saves us so much time. We are currently working with IT, Amion, and Kronos to have the systems integrated. The IT department and Pharmacy are involved in piloting this integration. More departments would benefit from using Amion as it would save a lot of time currently devoted to staff scheduling.

What would you tell students/employees who are aspiring to explore careers in pharmacy or other health careers?

I think working in the YKHC pharmacy is a unique experience as we are the only pharmacy in our region. We are up front with people when we interview for front line positions such as pharmacy technicians. We are a very busy department and there is always lots to do.

Our pharmacy technicians are all trained on the job. They have the option to become nationally certified pharmacy technicians.  With the support of our dedicated pharmacists who serve as mentors, we have been able to add three nationally certified pharmacy technicians to our team in 2023, bringing our total of nationally certified pharmacy technicians to four. We do encourage our employees to pursue further education, training and/or certification as a skilled workforce is an asset to YKHC!

The pharmacy is a fast-paced environment and team work is important to delivering quality service to our patients. As managers we do our best to really work with our employees as we value their contribution to the pharmacy team. We strive to have a balance between meeting the needs of our team and service excellence to our patients and often time that is challenging. With the commitment and dedication of the pharmacy team, however, we continue to work together to overcome the hurdles and persevere as we work diligently and conscientiously to support the patients’ pharmacy needs in our region.