A Silver Lining to the COVID-19 Cloud

Shea Manigo ’07 and Brigid Boehm Elam ’08 have spent years training for this moment. 

Coronavirus threw down the gauntlet, and Elam and Manigo rose to meet the challenge, applying what they learned in pharmacy school and leadership seminars, as well as in the training they’ve instituted with their CVS Pharmacy teams. Those teams are united and meeting the COVID-19 crisis with dedication, innovation, and compassion.

“Serving our communities and helping others is why we went to pharmacy school,” said Elam, pharmacy region director for CVS Health. “There is no time better than now to remind us of our essential role.”

As division vice president for CVS Health, Manigo is in charge of leadership development and engagement for 1,300 CVS Pharmacy locations. She has been inspired and uplifted by the hearts and commitment of her colleagues.

“Our purpose of helping people on their path to better health is fulfilled every day our teams show up to work, engage our customers and ensure continuity of care during this crisis,” said Manigo, the 2018 White Coat Ceremony speaker for the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) College of Pharmacy. “COVID-19 has united us as pharmacists and as a health care community to improve health for all.”

Elam, the former president of the MUSC Class of 2008, shares Manigo’s sense of purpose. 

“There is no better term than ‘essential worker’ that describes a pharmacist’s position in the community,” she said. “I have never been as proud as I am today of my pharmacist peers. We show up, regardless of the challenge, to serve our communities.”

The two MUSC alumnae are closely engaged with their teams’ efforts to provide care during these unprecedented times. 

• CVS Pharmacy has made a number of changes to limit the spread of coronavirus, including installing disinfectant wipe stations and social distancing signage, reducing the number of signatures required on PIN pads, providing gloves and face masks to all pharmacy and store employees, and installing protective panels at pharmacy and checkout counters. 
• One of Manigo’s teams set up a temporary CVS Pharmacy to support the 1,000-bed coronavirus facility in Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. 
• The CVS HealthHUB locations, piloted in three Houston locations in 2018, offer a broader range of health care services and personalized care than a traditional CVS Pharmacy location, and are well-suited to the surge of care needed as a result of the pandemic.

Including the pilot stores, Manigo’s market already has 42 HealthHUB locations and it will have over 100 by the end of 2020.

“I am excited to see the expansion of services that CVS continues to bring to our communities so that quality comprehensive health care is accessible to all,” Elam said. “After working firsthand in one of our HealthHUB locations, I am confident our teams are positioned to provide the products and health care services our customers and patients need.”