Gatton Alum receives prestigious award from CVS Health

An alumnus of the Gatton College of Pharmacy at East Tennessee State University has received a prestigious award from CVSHealth after going above and beyond to help a patient earlier this year.

Brock Leisge, a member of the GCOP Class of 2016, works as a pharmacist at the CVS in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Earlier this year, a patient came in to have a prescription filled, but Leisge did much more than that he may very well have saved her life.

In a letter written to Leisges employer, the patients daughter explains that her mom had been battling thyroid cancer for nearly a year when she came in to get a new prescription filled.

On that Friday, she had received notification from her doctors office that they had changed her (medication) dosage and to go pick up the new prescription, writes the womans daughter. My mother went to the consultation window and was greeted by Brock.

When the patient expressed concern about the change in dosage, Leisge called her doctors office. It is then that he learned the womans TSH level, which is an indicator of thyroid function, was more than 20 times what is considered a normal level.

He immediately came out from behind the counter, had her sit down, and took her blood pressure and pulse rate. Both were high, writes the daughter. He stressed the importance of her going to the emergency room immediately.

Leisges actions and advice prompted the daughter to drive from Indianapolis to take her mom to the emergency room.

Once we arrived at the emergency room Friday evening, I learned that my mom was going into a myxedema coma. This is life threatening, the daughter writes. I could have lost her but didnt, largely in part to Brocks reaction for my moms situation and compassion for her wellbeing.

Following his actions and the daughters letter, Leisge was honored with the Miracle Maker Award from CVS. The award recognizes one pharmacist out of the 4,000 employed by the company across its 1,100 stores who has helped patients on their path to better health every day.