July 2017 by Denise J.
This PRAISE is very overdue but, well deserved. I take several medications and the doctor had started me on 3 new one's. After the second day on them I felt like I was going to pass out. Scared and living by myself I called the Pharmacy to see if my symptoms could be due to new med. The pharmacist on duty that night was Azzedine Benchaar at the Walgreens on Cleveland & Bendix in South Bend, IN. I told him what I felt like and he double checked my meds to see if they could be causing my symptoms but he said, no there were no red flags for the medication I was on at the time. He then asked if someone could come stay or check on me but I told him there was no one. Afraid of passing out at home alone, I drove to ER (6pm)about 7 minutes from my house. When I arrived and got out vehicle felt like passing out and a couple walking by helped me into the ER where they took me right in. Of course the ran a bunch of tests which showed I had pneumonia and for some reason my blood pressure was dropping. I was discharged about 2a the next morning. When I arrived home I checked my cell phones and had 2 calls. One was from the pharmacist Azzedine and the other from my neighbors saying they were worried because there was a pharmacist at my house stopping to check on me on his way home from work that night about 11:30p. The neighbors and he walked around to my driveway and saw my vehicle was gone and Azzedine said, "At Least I know she is with someone." I was so touched that he was that concerned about me to go above and beyond to check on me especially after a long day of work. The following morning he called when he got to the pharmacy to check on me again and was so glad to hear I was OK and told me to call if anymore questions or problems. When I saw his manager the next time I was in the store I told him of the caring thing that Azzedine did. I don't know if corporate offices get these posts but if so I believe this pharmacist deserves recognition for going ABOVE & BEYOND out of concern for one of his customers health and safety. Fondly, Denise Jansen