Yost Pharmacy: The Family's Focus is Patient Care

Three generations of pharmacists have worked at Yost Pharmacy in Mason, Ohio, "under the blue awning" as it's described in their advertising, and the history of success here is based on a family work ethic instilled by Valentine Yost when he opened the neighborhood pharmacy in 1945.

"The bottom line is that the customers' needs are being met and that they are content and satisfied with our products and services," says the founder's  granddaughter, Sarah (Yost) McClain ('95), who, along with her brother David Yost ('99), went to pharmacy school at the University of Cincinnati and purchased the family pharmacy business from their parents, alum Richard Yost ('66) and Jane ('67 & '69, A&S) in 2013. 

 "When you're established as long as we've been established you become well known, and it's all built on relationships with physicians and patients" David Yost, RPh, says of operating the independent pharmacy in an area where there are almost a dozen other pharmacies, mostly large chains, within two square miles.

Yost Pharmacy located on Main Street in the heart of Mason, with about 50 employees—five full time pharmacists and one part-time pharmacist —sells prescription medications, medical equipment and various sundry items. The pharmacy also offers prescription compounding such as for hormone replacement therapy, pain management and pediatrics. Veterinary prescriptions are also compounded here. 
 
The Yost name, he says, "is just top of mind here; especially when people need something special."
 It's that reputation for quality and service that accounts for the filling of an average of more than 350 prescriptions a day; and on the days when they fill over 600.

"Its hard work," being an independent pharmacy, David Yost says, but notes that the challenges that make it hard are good challenges like taking all the time necessary  to make sure each and every customer understands their medications.

His sister agrees: "We have the freedom to funnel our energy to the patients. In an independent pharmacy there's no one saying 'you checked 10 prescriptions this hour' because our metrics are very different than corporate oversight metrics."

The Yost family shares a loyalty to their alma mater, the UC James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, where they volunteer their time as preceptors and open their store to pharmacy students for second and fourth year clinical rotations.

"It's a great career with an ever-changing dynamic," says Sarah McClain, RPh, adding, "I've been out of school for twenty years and it's nothing like it was when I graduated. But you have to be ready and willing to embrace that constant change and be willing to move with the flow of the business and keep the patient as the primary focus." 
   
Although retired, Richard Yost still comes into the pharmacy almost on a daily basis to assist with paperwork and the other two Yost children, Theresa Yost, MD, ('99, Medicine) and Matt Yost, also live in Cincinnati.