“As a pharmacist, I gotta tell you it's hard keeping that product on the shelf. It's amazing. This stuff works. Period.”
If you need something to help you manage your health and you happen to find yourself in the town of Jefferson, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta, and you walk into a local drug store and ask the pharmacist on duty that day what he recommends, well if the pharmacist on duty that day happens to be an older gentleman named David, you better pull up a chair and sit a spell. If you happen to engage this very likeable and interesting man of the South in a little conversation, this could take a while.
That’s because first of all, David likes to help people and as a longtime registered pharmacist he knows what he’s talking about, and second of all, David loves to answer just about any question you ask him with a story.
For instance, ask David how old he is. His answer:
“I’m 71, well 71-and-a-half actually. I was 17 when I graduated high school. And I turned 18 in June on Flag Day. I'm not gonna tell you what date they use because you're an American and you should know when Flag Day is. But I’ll give you a hint. It's the same exact birthday as our former president and he's only five years older than me.”
Then ask how he came to be a pharmacist. His answer to that question covers a lot of territory in David’s life until he finally gets to the heart of the matter:
“Well, God blessed me with many talents. And he blessed me too with getting me through pharmacy school. I asked my mom what she wanted me to go into when I graduated high school. And what she said was that she always wanted a pharmacist in the family. I said okay, although at that time I didn't know anything about pharmacy.”
David adds, “When I took the state boards, they interviewed you after you take the test. They interviewed me and asked me why do you want to be a pharmacist and I said, ‘Hey, I love people. I want to help people,’ and that's why I got into pharmacy.”
So that’s what David did and by the time he’d got past normal retirement age, he’d worked in both some big-name drug stores and a couple of independents. Then about six years ago, he settled into semi-retirement as a pharmacist working a day and a half a week for an independent drug store in Jefferson, which he’s happy to point out is a nice drive south of the town of Flowery Branch, which is where he and his wife live.
David adds that before his current pharmacy job he worked at a drug store across the street in Jefferson with the same name as the Civil War doctor who was the first doctor to use ether to anesthetize fallen soldiers for surgery. But that’s a whole other story.
At one point, David had begun to have a little problem with his memory, so when he noticed some Prevagen commercials he decided to buy a bottle.
“With my background in pharmacy, you see some products that don't work and that's why I was a little bit hesitant to begin with,” he begins.
“But I said you know what, I gave it a try. And anyway, long story, but I'm glad I did and I've been using it now for the last three years. I remember better and it helps me daily.”
Then David comes to the end of his story. “As a pharmacist, I gotta tell you it's hard keeping that product on the shelf. It's amazing. This stuff works. Period.”