When this army pharmacist wanted to move to the civilian sector, Walmart was the answer.
John Oh was working at a community Army hospital in Fort Benning, when he decided to look for a civilian pharmacist job. A fellow pharmacist shared how much he enjoyed working at Walmart, so John decided to look into it.
He connected with a Walmart market health director, who also happened to have a background in the service, and heard even more good things about the company and its benefits. John officially started with Walmart in 2014.
Walmart World caught up with John at his store in Duluth, Georgia, where he took a break from giving immunizations to customers to share his story.
In the Army
Back in 2011, John joined the Army Reserve. He’s been deployed three times: to Germany in 2016 for six months, to Germany again in 2017 for a year and to Texas in 2020 for nine months to help with COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
“I was deployed to a small county hospital where they only had one pharmacist working and were overwhelmed by the number of patients coming in,” John says of his last deployment.
John is grateful for the ways Walmart supports active-duty and Army Reserve families, continuing health insurance coverage and supplementing deployment pay to match his Walmart salary.
“I was fortunate that for all three times I was deployed, I was able to come back to my previous position for every store I was in,” he explains. “My partner pharmacist stepped up as a pharmacist in charge while I was away.”
Speaking Customers’ Language
When John started with Walmart, he was a “floating” pharmacist, travelling between different stores in Market 108. In 2018, John landed in his current store as pharmacy manager.
He is one of several pharmacy staff members at his store who can help customers whose first language is not English. Thanks to the diversity of their area, common languages include Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Farsi.
“We use translators a lot, probably every other customer,” says John, who is fluent in Korean. “But I was able to have some of the associates who speak second languages certified, so that really helped us.”
Communication is especially important in the pharmacy department. Even seemingly simple needs like vaccinations can require a lot of paperwork, and some medications come with complex instructions.
“It's really, really helpful to have certified translators,” says John.
Proudly Serving His Community
John values his connection with customers. “We're very approachable—that's how the public feels about us.” Customers come in with questions about health concerns and trust the pharmacy staff to help them find answers.
“I just feel really thankful they have that trust in us, and that Walmart provides great resources for us to support those customers and patients. That's what I really feel really proud about—providing those services to people in diverse groups.”
John is also grateful for his Walmart team. “We have a team that really supports your life off the clock,” he says. “We give each other plenty of time to rest in between shifts, so that we can keep a good work-life balance.”
Sam’s Club and Walmart pharmacists play an important role in helping our communities stay healthy. We’re celebrating each and every one of them for Pharmacy Appreciation Month 2022. Check out more stories from the pharmacy on WalmartWorld.com.
