Northridge Pharmacy owner focuses on community.

THE HONOREE

Pharmaceutical Executive

Dr. Barry L. Pascal

Northridge Pharmacy

IF Dr. Barry Pascal had his way, he'd be sitting in a movie theater 23 hours a day, seven days a week.

"I just love movies," said Pascal, owner of Northridge Pharmacy, the oldest on-going business in Northridge. "My goal is to see every movie that's ever been made."

Pascal, 60, has lived in the Valley since 1949. He bought the pharmacy in 1973 and became the third owner in its 70-year history.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

"I was supposed to be a dentist because that's what my mother always told me I'd be," said Pascal. "I mean, she conceived me as a dentist. But I have absolutely no aptitude for being a dentist. I get dizzy when I look at things upside down. So when a cousin said he was going to pharmacy school, I said, 'ah ha', that's what I'll do."

Pascal graduated from USC's doctor of pharmacy program in 1967 and became registered in both California and Nevada the same year.

The business has become a family run operation, with his wife, Shirley overseeing the pharmacy's Gift Gallery, and his son Jonathan serving as general manager of operations.

Pascal has served on a wide number of state and local boards and commissions, including the board of directors of the Pharmacist's Professional Society of the San Fernando Valley, former Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg's San Fernando Valley Business Advisory Commission's new issues committee and insurance subcommittee, and the Valley Industry and Commerce Association's healthcare task force, insurance committee and healthcare subcommittee.

In addition to movies, Pascal has a passion for laughter and is the author of several books on humor, including "Funny Bones," the first official health care joke, published in 1997, and "Popcorn," a light-hearted look at the business of movie going.

"I've found that working across the counter and talking to people that it is so sad, so depressing and so personal, that one of the ways I can help people feel better is to make them laugh," said Pascal. "So I started doing this at the counter and I found out some of my customers were actually professional comics and comic writers. So we just started collaborating and eventually I sat down and put together the first book."

Many in the community who didn't know Barry Pascal or his pharmacy prior to 1994 got a quick introduction after the Northridge earthquake. The tremor nearly toppled his pharmacy and gift shop, but he managed to keep the operation going, dispensing pharmaceuticals and other supplies to victims at no or low cost.

"If you had money, we charged cost. If you had no money, we gave them to you free," said Pascal. And for the next five years afterward I had people returning to the pharmacy to pay me back. It was the most amazing thing."

Pascal enjoys listening to jazz and, despite the fact he's recently lost 75 pounds, he wants everyone to know he still loves food.

"I still look, I just don't touch as much," he said.

The Finalists

Leo M.T. McStroul

Plaza West Pharmacy

AFTER almost 40 years in the pharmacy business, Leo M.T. McStroul has accomplished everything a pharmacist could hope to achieve. The winner of the National Community Pharmacist Association's Willard B. Simmons Independent Pharmacist of the Year award in 2002, the 1998 California Pharmacists Association Pharmacist of the Year Award, the Preceptor of the Year Award from USC in 2002, and the award of excellence from the California State Board of Pharmacy, McStroul's resume is dotted with acclaim, yet he expresses apprehension about the future profitability of his profession.

"I'm very proud of all of my awards, particularly winning the National Pharmacist of the year award. It's the highest honor that a pharmacist can receive. It's a very difficult time to own a pharmacy and to make it go. You have to be really innovative, offer all the new services, That's what we try to do. We offer immunizations, emergency contraception, veterinary compounds. My philosophy is to make the business profitable through innovative practice and patient services. Anything you can do that's legitimate and helps the patients in the field. You make your money out of ancillary services," McStroul said.

--Jeff Weiss

Dr. Rodney M. Zolt

Kaiser Permanente 

FOR much of the last two decades, Dr. Rodney Zolt has heavily influenced the pharmacy business in the San Fernando Valley. Currently, the Pharmacy Services Leader for Kaiser Foundation Hospital in the Valleys Service Area (Woodland Hills, Panorama City, and Kern County), Zolt oversees 22 outpatient pharmacies, two inpatient pharmacies, three home infusion pharmacies, an extensive drug education program, 30 ambulatory care pharmacists, over 500 staff employees and over fifty managers/administrative specialists, with a current annual budget of over $190 million.

Zolt has expanded coordinate pharmaceutical care through development of policy/procedures and protocols for all pharmacist specialists in oncology in the State of California. This effort required cooperative efforts between medical groups, administration, nursing, and pharmacies. Last year, Zolt was instrumental in the establishment of standalone pharmacies in the western Ventura market to service Kaiser Permanente members who lived outside the normal service areas.

In 1998, Zolt designed and developed a pharmacy call center to handle pharmacy related phone calls from all sources. In addition to his operational responsibilities, Zolt has played a key role in the education and mentoring of new pharmacists.

--Jeff Weiss