You must learn to love the things that you have to do. That’s what Chinyere Onyeagocha’s mother told her, and what she now tells her children and anyone else in the health care industry.
Growing up with two parents who worked at a teaching hospital in Nigeria, Onyeagocha, who goes by Dr. Chii, worked as a clinical pharmacist at a hospital there before moving to Illinois in 1997. Because of Illinois’ requirements, she went back to school when she moved to the United States—and is glad she did, because she ended up getting extra clinical training. Onyeagocha completed an accelerated program in two and half years. Through that experience, she found that she loved the clinical side of the job.
“I love diagnosis, I love patient care—direct patient care,” Onyeagocha said. “That’s my sweet spot.”
Over the years, she has worked in every area of pharmacy except long-term care. In 2015, she stumbled into home infusion pharmacy, and she hasn’t looked back.
“I love my job,” she said. “I absolutely love it. I enjoy the patients. I enjoy being with the staff. I enjoy being in management. I like solving problems … I tell people, if there’s a problem, I cannot solve, it will not be solved.”
And according to her staff and patients, she’s great at her job. Since Onyeagocha began her role as director of pharmacy, customer service feedback has increased and sustained at a 99% satisfaction rate. She’s made it her mission to combat inequity in health care.
“For the most part, those patients do not get the same quality of care that the patients who are able to afford more or have better insurance have,” Onyeagocha said. “A lot of them are Medicare (-eligible) elderly patients. They have their own set of health care inequities, just being put in that elderly box. So, I found out that home visits make a whole lot of difference.”
Onyeagocha is also making a difference in the office. She created a caring room for staff children so that working mothers don’t have to miss a day of work due to childcare disruptions.
“[Mothers] are left with the burden of childcare, but never given the resources to take care of them,” Onyeagocha said. “So much is expected from us, little is given.”
So, Onyeagocha found a spare room at work. Now rather than employees having to stress over finding affordable childcare or staying at home and losing pay because of a small case of the sniffles, they can come to work, and their kids can stay in the caring room. This small act nearly eliminated turnover.
“Right now, I have zero absences, and I have 100% retention,” she said.
That’s not the only way she shows her employees she cares. Every month, Onyeagocha recognizes her team’s hard work by personally providing a lunch as a gesture of gratitude. She also said she believes those in leadership roles should be trained on what every person on the staff does. That way, if someone is out, she can jump into any department to help fill the gap.
“She is the ultimate teammate, never above the work, always ready to help,” read her nomination, which came from the entire pharmacy staff. “Brilliant, kind and fearless, Dr. Chii is the very embodiment of excellence in health care. She is not just an asset; she is the gold standard.”
But Onyeagocha says it’s just a matter of not complaining and understanding the value of working in health care.
“This is a calling. If you’re in health care, you have to take it as a calling. It’s not just a regular job,” she said. “You are responsible for the lives of people. Go back and have a conversation with yourself. Figure out what it is … find a way to love this calling that is yours.”
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