Service with a story: Meet this ‘legendary’ Hy-Vee pharmacist

The pharmacy was being bombarded.

It was the beginning of the pandemic. For some, panic was setting in.

People were worried about being able to get their medications, and there was a surge in requests to fill them.

Still, when the phone rang, Amy Huntimer answered it.

And when it became clear the patient mostly just needed to talk, she made time.

“A lot of people didn’t leave their homes, and we were their only communication,” said Huntimer, the pharmacist at Hy-Vee’s 26th Street and Marion Road location.

“I had quite a few elderly patients who just called to visit, and trying to make time, even if it was 90 seconds or a minute, it was very eye-opening to see how much isolation a lot of people were put in, and that was hard.”

Months later, when vaccines became available, Huntimer sat in a counseling room as patients cried with relief. She even brought vaccines to some who were homebound.

“They wanted their flu shot, and their kids called and said, ‘Is there a way?’ Absolutely. You bet.”

And then, on the last day of the unforgettable 2020, as she learned a patient was having a seizure in the grocery store, Huntimer was there again.

“Luckily, she had a prescription (on file at the pharmacy), and I was able to give her some medicine that helped her recover.”

For all those reasons – and many more – Huntimer now wears a gold badge behind the counter at Hy-Vee. It reflects a rare distinction companywide: She was one of 11 winners of this year’s Hy-Vee Legendary Customer Service Award.

Hy-Vee has about 86,000 employees.

Since 2006, only 150 have received that recognition.

“Amy is extremely knowledgeable, helpful, selfless, warm and caring as she treats every customer as they are the only patient she is helping care for,” said Matt May, her store director.

For Huntimer, it’s about getting to know customers personally, May said. It’s about making “a connection with them much deeper than just a transaction.”

Huntimer, a mother of three including twin girls, started her Hy-Vee career while still in college at SDSU and was hired out of school in 2005 as a staff pharmacist. She was made pharmacy manager in 2009 and now also oversees the pharmacy in Hartford.

She also was recognized with the Hustead Award as the South Dakota Pharmacist of the Year this year from the South Dakota Pharmacists Association.

“Amy is very empathetic towards our customers’ needs and is always cool, calm and collected no matter the situation,” said May, adding that when a customer had a seizure, “Amy’s response to the situation helped calm everyone involved until the first responders could arrive.”

But even the Pharmacist of the Year will tell you that the past year has not always been rewarding.

“I’ll be honest. It’s been exhausting,” Huntimer said. “We were there at open and stayed until close, and I have the best crew ready to dig in and help me, and I could not be doing it without them.”

It would be a taxing time on anyone.

But it’s so much more when you know the rest of Huntimer’s story.

As it turns out, her most important patient is at home.

Her daughter Holly was diagnosed with parameningeal rhabdomyosarcoma in 2018, a cancer of the head and neck.

“We’re in remission, which is great, and the type of cancer she had was very aggressive,” Huntimer said.

That means the fight isn’t yet over for this 8-year-old. Holly’s level of chemotherapy damaged her bone marrow. Two or three times a month, the family goes to Sanford Children’s Hospital for a blood transfusion.

“We have to pursue a bone marrow transplant,” Huntimer said.

“We can plan that out, but that’s what’s on my 2022 to-do list.”

That will require Huntimer and her husband, Adam, to both take time off work as they were told to plan on spending four to six months in the Twin Cities.

And, Holly’s identical twin sister, Haley, plans to be her bone marrow donor.

“With Haley’s permission, and she knows she gets a choice, she will be the donor, and Holly will be the recipient,” Huntimer said. “So I am planning to stay at Hy-Vee and still work because I need health insurance and have other kids at home, and Adam and I will be tag-teaming. Everyone’s like, ‘I don’t know how you do it.’ I’m not doing it. It’s very hard.”

Think about that for a moment, in the context of Huntimer’s job as a pharmacist.

Going to work, all day, serving patients during a pandemic, with a child who is a cancer survivor at home.

She wore a mask before anyone required it and wouldn’t even look at her kids when she arrived home every day at the start of the pandemic.

“I showered, changed clothes and then interacted with them,” she said.

She deals with the backlash from those who for whatever reason feel the need to fight things like wearing a mask and getting vaccinated.

“I always stay calm. I don’t fight back,” she said. “Most of the time, they just want to vent. I don’t ever really say I understand or anything like that. I’ll say I apologize for how you’re feeling or it sounds like you’ve had a rough day. I’ve developed some tough skin in retail, to be honest. I think everybody does.”

And while she doesn’t say it, for her, what’s considered a problem is all about perspective.

“I try not to rank a person’s issue based on my life,” she said. “But things just don’t bug me like they used to.”

She talks about her journey through a Caring Bridge site, which hopefully one day in the not-too-distant future will include a recap of a family trip she has coming to her as a winner of the Hy-Vee Legendary Customer Service Award.

“My kids want to go to Jamaica,” she said. “So that’s our plan, all COVID-approved.”

In the meantime, on this day, she’s planning to work a night shift. Wearing a gold badge that reflects her gold standard of service.

“I just love my patients,” she said. “As long as your keep your patients on your mind and your most important priority is taking care of them, everything else falls into place.”