A Smyrna pharmacist's dedication to diabetes awareness got her on 'Good Morning America'
Dr. TaQuina Warren – better known as “Dr. Tee” – treats her patients like family, oftentimes inducting them as her newfound relatives when they enter her Smyrna pharmacy.
For her patients, Warren has come to represent much more than a local pharmacist as she has grown to become a cornerstone within the community.
“I realized that I wanted to connect with my patients on a totally different level,” Warren said. “A lot of times I tell them when they come in, 'I'll be your adopted niece so I'll call them aunt so-and-so or uncle so-and-so.’”
Warren was recently featured in an episode of "Good Morning America" where her business, Focus Pharmacy, was revitalized with help from Wells Fargo volunteers.
Her personal experiences with diabetes have allowed her to forge strong, empathetic relationships with her patients as well as provide more nuanced treatment information. Warren described having a deep passion for connecting with people and being able to help patients on their health and wellness journey.
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Her patients have grown to care for her so much that they often call just to check on her while she’s working.
“I'm really supposed to be checking on them – they're checking on me,” Warren said.
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Warren, a Smyrna native, began her career in the pharmacy field as a 17-year-old intern and has since become a health educator and advocate for her community, focusing primarily on information about diabetes.
In 2017, her husband was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes only three weeks before their daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 8 years old.
The news segment, which aired on Nov. 19, showed how "Good Morning America" and Wells Fargo gave Warren a spa day while numerous volunteers renovated and outfitted her pharmacy with Christmas decorations in an effort to express their gratitude for Warren’s impact on the community.
Warren’s pharmacy opened about eight months before the start of the pandemic and exemplified a “leap of faith” for her as the business struggled to get by while residents attempted to avoid the virus by staying home.
“I cried a lot, I prayed a lot – I cried then prayed then prayed then cried,” Warren said.
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Soon after, however, Warren began offering COVID-19 testing and eventual vaccines, growing the independent pharmacy’s foothold in the community. At the height of the pandemic last year, three of Warren’s patients died from COVID-19 complications in the span of 10 days, she said.
The loss took a toll.
“I was emotionally distraught,” Warren said.
The loss of Warren’s patients was personally devastating, largely due to the profound relationships that she had built with them over time. Some of the strongest relationships she’s built are with patients who are living with diabetes.
Her experiences with her husband and daughter allow her to connect with those patients in a far more personal way. Warren has also experienced the same challenges and tribulations that many of the patients face, including the high cost of insulin.
“I’m living it too,” Warren said. “Those different challenges that patients experience, I'm experiencing also, so being able to actually give them my own personal experience makes it all the more different.”
Warren always had an interest and love for diabetes education, with her passion only growing when two members of her family were diagnosed.
At one point, Warren recalled, she closed the pharmacy to accompany a patient living with diabetes to a doctor’s appointment in order to be able to answer questions they had about their treatment and medication during the visit.
“That's what I want my patients to know is that we're in this together – you're not by yourself,” Warren said.
Warren now hosts pop-up vaccination sites and public clinics to help provide information and resources to the community. Still, her specialty is providing information regarding diabetes and treatment.
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In the news segment, when Warren returned to her pharmacy from the spa day, a crowd of residents and customers stood in front of her business where she was told that Wells Fargo donated $10,000 to the American Diabetes Association in her honor. The donation was part of Wells Fargo’s “Hope, USA” initiative that aims to help support small businesses nationwide.
Warren was at a loss for words when she saw the unexpected showing of support from her community.
“Instantly, tears came down, I mean, I was crying before I got out of the car,” Warren recalled. “It brought home the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing.”
Warren hopes to continue to make an impact in her community, especially when it comes to diabetes. While the airdate of the segment may have passed, Warren’s impact on her community continues to be felt as she holds clinics and continues to educate the community she serves.
Contact the reporter at jcastaneda1@delawareonline.com or connect with him on Twitter @joseicastaneda.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: 'Good Morning America' features Smyrna pharmacist for community impact
