Triet Nguyen, a licensed pharmacist who works at a Safeway in Northern Virginia, was honored for hand-delivering prescriptions and flu shots to elderly customers quarantined by COVID-19 during the year elapsed.
A SingleCare Prescription Savings Service Editorial Board selected the Annandale resident, known to friends and neighbors as “Tony,” from among thousands of nominations from clients across the country for the “Au” award. above and beyond â€this year.
“I feel blessed to have been chosen,” Nguyen told the Washington Times on Tuesday. “I just wanted to help them and be there for them. It doesn’t matter to me.
The 52-year-old Safeway employee in Little River Turnpike said he started occasionally delivering prescriptions to customers confined to their homes between his home and the store when he arrived 15 years ago. He even took them shopping because they weren’t driving, had no one to pick them up, or had no money for transportation.
As more clients began to stay home during the pandemic, he found himself delivering prescriptions, flu shots, and shingles shots at least once a week for up to 12 frightened elderly residents.
“They’re weak, to begin with, and they’re more likely to get really sick from grabbing something in the store. A lot of them don’t go out at all except to get the flu shot and get the shot, â€said Nguyen, who moved to the area in 1998.
Although the pharmacy is now mailing prescriptions, it takes two days, and he and his assistant continue to deliver drugs to quarantined customers who can’t wait that long. He also consults with them on their medications and payments, helping them find cheaper co-payment options.
He said that sometimes the customers he visits offer him money and gifts, even if he doesn’t ask for anything in return.
“They are very nice to me and that’s one way for me to return that kindness,†he said.
Born in Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen arrived in the United States in 1975 at the age of five when a military helicopter evacuated his family of nine from Saigon.
They ended up with a sponsoring family in Toledo, Ohio, and he earned degrees in chemistry and pharmacy from Ohio State University.
“I remember that last day everyone was panicking. It was exciting back then and a little scary, but I’m more than happy we came here, â€said Mr. Nguyen. “I love living here and I think it’s the best nation in the world. You have every chance of success if you think about it. “
