Christina McCormick is a Clinical Pharmacist and Pharmacy Project Manager in the Health Risk Management Department of Pharmacy for Vantage Health Plan. She has 15 years of experience with specialty certifications in Nutrition Support, Fluid and Electrolyte Management, Medication Therapy Management (MTM), Heart Failure Disease Management, Opioid Pain Management and most recently a Therapeutic Marijuana (TM ) designation by the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy.
She shares her experiences working with the company, how it has strengthened her both in her work life and her personal life, as well as some of her past experiences in life and how she has learned from them.
Tell me your name, who you work for, and what department and job you're in.
My name is Christina McCormick, and I am a pharmacist. I'm at Vantage Health Plan in the Health Risk Department of Pharmacy, and I am currently a Pharmacy Project Manager, which is sort of a non-traditional pharmacy role.
How do you enjoy working as a pharmacist for Vantage Health Plan? What are some of your favorite day-to-day things that you do?
I love working for Vantage Health Plan because I get to apply unique skills that I’ve developed over time in a non-traditional pharmacy role. I’m a very creative person, so I love being able to work with others to come up with unique solutions to problems that we may encounter. That’s probably the most rewarding part is working with other people to get their ideas and perspective on how we can improve processes and then work together to come up with an efficient, comprehensive solution that helps us to better serve our members and improve communication. The pharmacy department’s clinical programs have grown and evolved so quickly to encompass a very broad spectrum of specialty pharmacy positions that wouldn’t exist in this area without the vision of the VHP administrators. Those positions have allowed our team to use unique skills to create programs that have a greater contribution to the healthcare community. I’ve very creative, so I love that part of it.
What do you like most about your role in the pharmacy department?
Being able to – in general, work with my strengths and the strengths of others. I can say hands-down I’ve never worked at a place where I have felt I can fully work with my strengths and that it’s okay to have weaknesses but those are not overshadowed by the positive impact I can have by focusing on my strengths and the contributions they bring to our team. By focusing on my strengths and the strengths of others, it boosts my creativity and communication further enabling me to give my best effort at whatever project I’m working on. In the end, we get to celebrate accomplishments as a team. This brings a lot of joy and fulfillment to what I do.
What would you say is your favorite thing overall about Vantage Health Plan as a company?
As a company, the leadership. Hands-down, the culture. I would just say that, like I said before, just being able to focus on my strengths. I've noticed with other people they're allowed to work within their strengths and I have never had a time where I've been afraid to go to my director or my leadership to say, "Hey, I feel like this is something we can improve upon," and they respect and value our opinion. I think that's important. I remember early on hearing Dr. Jones say, "When you look at a problem and you identify the problem, it's usually not a people problem but a process problem," and that has stuck with me for a very long time and even into my personal life, I can say that is true. It helps to keep the focus off of a person so that you can maintain healthy relationships and just say, “Hey, let’s tackle this problem together,” and I have found that culture is very alive at Vantage Health Plan and I’m just happy to be a part of that.
If you don’t mind, share an experience you may have had in your past that has shaped who you are today.
That part’s a little tough, so just bare with me. But, from the time I was little, my father was a very brittle Type 1 diabetic. So there were many times where I would find him unconscious and would have to figure out whether his blood sugar was high or low. He also was a drug dealer, and so we had to navigate that as children, and we’d go through episodes of being poor or having plenty, not having a lot of resources, you know. So, I would have to really try to protect my little brothers and help to manage getting us to school and growing up kind of quick and being a mom to them as well. We had a tough time with that, and when I was 14 I was in a major wreck where I was ejected from the vehicle, and nearly died from that. The thing at that time that kept me alive was that, “I need to be there for my little brothers.” Then again, when I was 16, I was kidnapped and taken to a second location where I eventually escaped, and the same thing - just the fight to stay alive for my little brothers was what got me through.
How would you say you were able to overcome all of those experiences? What was the main thing that, back then and today, keeps going through your head and helps you deal with what happened?
I’ll say that the emotion I get from that now is just being grateful, you know - that I’m able to be here and I don’t take that for granted. My brothers are doing great and have precious families of their own, and that makes me so happy. My father passed away at a young age, but that, with the life he was living, was expected. I try to focus on what I gained from the experience and not what I lost. I gained knowledge on how to be a good mother, a caretaker, empathetic and strong drive to overcome difficult situations. I feel like it really pushed me to not take any day I’m living for granted and to not harbor resentment or fear. I mean, the worst things that can happen have happened to me in that short period of time, so I’ve thought, “Well, there’s nothing I can be intimidated by or fear because what can hurt me?” So mixing with that the culture of Vantage and saying, “Hey - those were processes problems.” You know, I can look at it like these were people who, like even with my dad, who were faced with process problems in their life that lead to poor outcomes…he was pretty much uneducated, but he was resourceful and full of ingenuity. He did a lot of things to help instill a strong work ethic in our lives and stressed the importance of education, and he did these things even with his own shortcomings. He wanted better for us. So, I’m able to take all of that, maintain my focus on what I’ve gained and not what I’ve lost from those experiences, and that helps me. My brothers, like I’ve said, they’re doing great. I’ve learned how to navigate difficult situations. There’s not much that intimidates me. I can very easily move with change - that doesn’t affect me as much. I did go through a period of time where I would have nightmares of saving children, but I don’t have those anymore.
I would just say the biggest thing is I never hated anyone, and thank God, I mean because I didn’t build any resentments, and I think that keeps me from having a sort of negative effect on my joy. I’m able to be grateful for every day, be empathetic and help others when they go through painful situations. I always tell myself, “pain is never wasted”.
Based on your experience, what would you say to help or encourage other people that may be going through similar situations, or anyone that has had or is having some kind of a traumatic experience.?
The main thing is – whatever situation or person that may have traumatized you, don’t lose your power to change by getting stuck in those moments. Look forward refusing to be a victim of anything that happens to you so that way, you can recognize that it happened and it was unfortunate that “someone or something hurt me” but I have a forward facing windshield that is much bigger than the tiny rearview mirror I’m looking through. I know it’s easy to say, but always keep looking forward - don’t look back. The thing happened to you, learn from it. You’ve got to take it and say, “Okay - this happened, it’s bad, but let me learn from it so I can help others and do something better.” Look back long enough to reveal and deal with it, but don’t allow it rob your time and joy. It has already taken up enough of your time. Don’t let it continue to have a negative impact on your life. Use it for good.
That’s been big for me, because it’s easy to sometimes get into that mindset to say, “Oh, poor me. That happened to me,” but then I lose my power to change.
If you are the one who caused the trauma, own it, confess it, apologize and forgive yourself. There is always hope.
Is there anything else you’d like to add about your amazing and inspiring story?
Yes, what a blessing it is to work at Vantage Health Plan and with the leadership there and my director, Clyde Dearman. I also want to say about him - he is an inspiration and a good, spiritual man who helps us all through many challenging situations just by leading by example. Watching the way he navigates his way through troubles in his own life while maintaining a positive outlook motivates me to do the same. I look at him and think, “My goodness! If he can do that, I can do that too.”