Pharmacist Theresa Tolle, owner of Sebastian’s Bay Street Pharmacy, has received two impressive honors in recent weeks, both testaments to her outstanding work as a pharmacist and a community leader.
Tolle has been chosen speaker-elect of the House of Delegates, representing the 60,000-plus members of the American Pharmacy Association (APhA). She will serve as speaker-elect for one year, followed by a two-year term as speaker and APhA Trustee.
“I believe in being a servant-leader,” Tolle told the delegates upon accepting the position, “and returning a portion to the profession which has afforded me so much.”
Tolle is participating this week in the Health on the National Mall event in Washington, DC, as one of the 15 independent pharmacists chosen from thousands across the country to share practical insights into health issues.
“Community pharmacists are often a patient’s most accessible, trusted local healthcare provider,” said Ron Clerico of Cardinal Health, a global pharmaceutical and medical product provider with 30,000 employees worldwide. “We’re proud to co-sponsor this event, as a way to showcase the important role that community pharmacists like Theresa Tolle can play in helping patients better manage their health and better understand and comply with their medications.”
“I cannot think of a better location than the National Mall to showcase pharmacists’ knowledge and caring to visitors from across our great nation and around the world,” said Tolle. “I am honored to be selected to participate.”
On the Mall, Tolle is providing information on drug abuse prevention, a subject in which she has been active throughout her career. She has been a board member of SAFIR (Substance Abuse Free Indian River) for many years and, as such, has been indirectly involved in helping teach prevention to school-aged children. Additionally, she has given presentations on poison prevention at many area elementary schools.
To those who know Tolle – pharmacy customers as well as residents familiar with her numerous community service activities – neither honor came as a surprise.
Tolle always had an interest in medicine and was naturally good at math and science. Her father-in-law, Joe Tolle Jr., was a pharmacist and, with Frank Sherako, founded Bay Street Pharmacy, which has served the community for three decades. (Sherako, now retired, is chairman of the Sebastian River Medical Center Board of Trustees.)
Tolle received a B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Florida and worked for several large pharmacies in Brevard County. Both native Floridians, Tolle and husband, Joe Tolle III, settled in the Sebastian area. Theresa joined the Bay Street team 17 years ago, and her husband also works there. Upon her father-in-law’s retirement two years ago, she purchased the business, and continued to make a name for herself in the field of pharmacy and locally through community involvement.
Tolle credits her father, Matt Wells, with instilling in her the importance of community service. “My father owned a farm supply store in Chipley,” a Washington County town of about 3,500 in the Florida Panhandle. “He was very active in civic organizations – the Jaycees, the Chamber of Commerce – I got that from my Dad.”
Among the many community activities in which Tolle is involved is her current chairmanship of the Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce Board. Bay Street Pharmacy has fielded a team at the Relay for Life Cancer event for the past seven years, and Tolle serves on the Board of the North County American Cancer Society chapter and was ‘06-‘07 ACS Volunteer of the Year; she is also a current member of the SRMC board; past president of both the Brevard County and the Florida Pharmacy Associations; Sebastian Woman of the Year, 2010; Distinguished Pharmacy Alumnus, University of Florida.
Tolle says she could not participate in all these activities if she did not have a terrific, professional and dedicated staff.
Bay Street Pharmacy and Home Health Care is nothing like the big chain drug stores. When one enters, it feels cozy, even welcoming. There is friendly conversation among staff and customers who all seem to know one another’s names. As Tolle talks about her business, she pauses frequently to greet customers and ask how they’re doing. Shelves of products are everywhere, but visible and reachable. Vitamins and homeopathics share space with the diabetic education center, special shoes and supplies. Weekly diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol and liver enzyme testing is available, as is nutritional counseling with an RN, by appointment. Bay Street also offers prescription delivery in Sebastian.
Tolle adds that Bay Street Pharmacy also “proactively provides prescription disposal information to patients. We have a program through which we can accept medications for destruction and send them to be incinerated (instead of placed in groundwater), and I often speak to community groups about the importance of getting rid of medications from their medicine cabinets and closets so they cannot be diverted.”
Tolle, her family business and her love of community are heartening examples of what makes the Sebastian area so unique and special.
Bay Street Pharmacy is located at 7746 Bay St., Sebastian, Fla. 32958. For further indo, go to www.baystreetpharmacy.com or call 772-589-2043.