Macs Pharmacy West Knoxville

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: KRISTI HAWN, PHARMACIST

How long have you worked with Mac’s Hometown Pharmacy? I have been with Mac’s Hometown Pharmacy for about eight years. My journey began during Pharmacy School with an internship at Mac’s North Knoxville, followed by a year-long residency there.  I initially started out in Mac’s Long Term Care Pharmacy and eventually transitioned back into retail pharmacy, and became a PIC (Pharmacist in Charge) in 2021.

What inspired you to work in the pharmacy field? And what do you enjoy most about your job?  My uncle, Dr. Jeffrey Summers, inspired me to pursue a career in pharmacy. I always knew I wanted to work in healthcare, and during high school, I worked at my uncle’s doctor’s office. It quickly became clear to me that while I loved medicine, I wasn’t fond of the more graphic aspects of healthcare. What I truly enjoy about my job is the ability to impact people’s lives positively through medicine.

Can you share a memorable experience you’ve had while working at our pharmacy?  One of my most memorable experiences was during my clinical internship when I visited a patient’s home to review her medication after her hospital discharge. She was understandably confused about her new medication regimen, as some medications had been added while others were removed. I was there for 2 hours but I will never forget how rewarding it was to help her understand how to take her meds correctly, knowing it would significantly improve her health.

How do you like to spend your time outside of work? What are your hobbies or interests?  Outside of work, my four-year-old daughter, Kayleigh, keeps me pretty busy, and we are looking forward to the arrival our baby boy, Carter, who is due on March 12th. My family also owns Whimsy Cookie, and my husband, Cody, has recently opened a baseball facility focused on performance training in Sevierville.

If you could recommend one product from our pharmacy that you believe everyone should try, what would it be and why? I highly recommend a quality probiotic for gut health. Probiotics can help restore the balance of good bacteria in your gut, aiding digestion and alleviating issues like constipation, diarrhea, bloating, and gas. A healthy gut microbiome not only boosts overall immunity but also reduces inflammation and helps maintain regular bowel movements.

Voted Knoxville’s Best Community Pharmacy in Cityview Magazine’s Best of the Best 2022Cityview Magazine Knoxville’s Best of the Best 2022 | Story by Elisa Crawford  |  Photography by Nathan Sparks

Voted Best Pharmacist: Matthew Crawford  |  Voted Best Community Pharmacy  |  Voted Best Compounding Pharmacy

Building a Legacy:  Growing up, the family business was something I knew I wanted to be part of. I’d watch my father, Mac Wilhoit, go above and beyond for the business, his patients, and the community he had grown to know so well through his work. It was part of our lives, and I knew that at some point I’d want to be involved. I knew that what my father built the pharmacy on was much bigger than medication. For years, I watched him and my brother, Mike, grow the business into what it is today. Mike, now CEO of Mac’s Hometown Pharmacies, has expanded into 10 locations, servicing Knox, Anderson, and Blount counties. I’ve been fortunate to have been part of that growth for the last decade, as well, today as Director of Business Development for Mac’s LTC Pharmacy.  Walking alongside me has been my husband, Matthew, who placed first for Pharmacist in Cityview’s 2022 Best of the Best. Matt and I met in high school, and he pegs my father, Mac—who placed second in this year’s Pharmacist category— as the reason he became a pharmacist in the first place. “Mac showed me an article about how being a pharmacist was a great career path. He asked if I wanted to come work for him for a summer to see what I thought,” he recalls. “It was the best decision I could have made.” Matt quickly fell in love with the patients and interactions, and over the course of the next decade plus, he stepped foot into every position there from clerk and delivery driver to technician and pharmacist. Matt is now owner of two Mac’s Pharmacy locations.

It is about so much more than medication at Mac’s Hometown Pharmacies. Relationships are at the core of our business. Matt recently put it best: “Community pharmacies are the front line of healthcare. We’re the most accessible form, seeing our patients three to four times as often as primary care physicians might. “We get in depth into issues the patients are having, their medications, disease states, and more. We develop these relationships and rapport that have given us opportunities to take care of them. This is only possible because of how we’ve set up our brick-and-mortar based style of care.”

Community
At Mac’s, we make an investment in our community. I have watched as patients hug Matt in tears because they know they can count on him, on us. “We want to give that old time hometown pharmacy vibe,” he says. “We want to be more than where you pick up your prescriptions.” At Mac’s, we strive to always offer services to our community to better the health outcomes of our patients. We have free medication management packaging (MacPacks) to help with medication compliance, free kids vitamins, community education, and so much more. We even offer free delivery to Knox, Anderson, and Blount counties, which has been an enormous help to so many of our patients who find it difficult to leave their homes. We built this program to make it easier for our neighbors.

A New Space 
In June, we opened our newest brick-and-mortar location in West Knoxville. We’d been circling this community for years, waiting for the right time—and location—to present itself. Eventually it did, and it’s been a joy to watch this location grow over the last six months, especially for Matt who grew up in this neighborhood. “This is our community,” he says. “Mac’s Hometown Pharmacies’ family of locations is simply an extension of how we take care of it.” We look forward to serving you in the future at one of our locations and helping you in your wellness journey.

VOTED #1 (Gold): Community Pharmacy, Compounding Pharmacy, Matthew Crawford, PharmD