The woman behind the U.S. pharmacist walkouts

When Oklahoma pharmacist Bled Tanoe made her first LinkedIn post about terrible working conditions in community pharmacies contributing to errors in patient care, she never imaged it would go viral. But two years later, the hashtag she used in that first post—#pizzaisnotworking—(referring to the popular “pizza lunch” workplace morale technique) has spurred a social media campaign and an entire movement by pharmacy staff in support of better working conditions in community pharmacies for the safety of patients. Tanoe’s ongoing effort to advocate for the cause has prompted walkouts by pharmacy staff across the U.S., garnering the attention of media and pharmacy chain executives promising to make positive changes. The threat of the most recent series of of walkouts on Oct. 30 to Nov. 1 spurred the viral #Pharmageddon hashtag and led media outlets CNN, USA Today and others to shine a spotlight on pharmacy working conditions. Read: Walgreens pharmacy staffers stage walkouts over work conditions “I remember a pharmacy technician talking to me at work one day before I wrote that first post about how hard the last few years had been and how he didn’t know how he could possibly take care of patients and himself with everything he had to do,” says Tanoe, who worked at Walgreens at the time. “If he was feeling like this and so were pharmacists like me, I realized we just hadn’t voiced it properly.” She also recognized that ordering in pizza for lunch (a gesture she’d done in the past) wasn’t going to cut it anymore, hence the hashtag was born. Tanoe says that first post was meant to educate the public about the challenges in community pharmacy, encourage more compassion with front-line staff and urge patients to take their concerns higher up to company executives. “It was never meant to be an advocacy post,” she adds, noting that it obviously struck a chord and made her realize she needed to become a larger voice in the profession. Read: The tipping point Today Tanoe works in hospital pharmacy which she enjoys, while continuing her advocacy efforts outside of work hours. This entails continuing her social media posts (she has more than 7,000 followers on LinkedIn), meeting with associations and participating in podcasts, media interviews and any other outlets where she can promote her message for improving workplace conditions for pharmacy staff. She also answers inquiries from pharmacists in other countries (including Canada) who are interested in replicating what she is doing. “I tell them the time has to be right like it was for us,” she says. “Plus, I was lucky to have a lot of people supporting me to help get this off the ground.” In speaking out, Tanoe recognizes she has limited her chances of ever working at a pharmacy chain again. “I know if I lost my job in hospital, I’d have a very hard time getting hired again in the community,” she says. But ultimately, she’s very proud of what has transpired with #pizzaisnotworking so far. “The goal was for the pharmacy profession to be seen and heard and now everybody in this country has heard about this struggle,” she says. “I want pharmacists to not be afraid anymore and know that they can ask for help—and to know that now they have the power for healing themselves.”

The woman behind the U.S. pharmacist walkouts

Register for free access or login.

Related Topics