Both Anderson Pharmacy and Summerton Drugs have been serving the Clarendon County community for more than three decades. The businesses are owned through a business partnership between Gene Phillips; his son, Trey; and Michael A. “Rock” Ouzts.
All serve as pharmacists, with Ouzts working at Anderson in his role as co-owner there.
“Being a pharmacist is a great job where you can help people and feel like you’re making a difference,” Ouzts said. “I enjoy being able to help people with their healthcare needs.”
An Edgefield native, Ouzts came to Manning in June 1995. He attended the College of Charleston and received his pharmacy degree from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. When he entered pharmacy school in the early 1980s, he began working with Hawthorne Pharmacy in Columbia, and eventually became a pharmacist there.
“I worked there from 1981 through the year that I came to Manning,” he said.
Gene Phillips has been a pharmacists for 45 years, his son, Trey, said. Trey joined his father in 2005 after graduating from the University of South Carolina with his pharmacy degree. He said he enjoys the freedom that comes with running your own business.
“It can be stressful, though,” he said. “But it gives you a little bit of freedom. You don’t have to worry about a boss when you’re the boss.”
Ouzts said staffing issues can always be challenging, as are meeting the needs of all customers.
“That’s especially true with some medications when our hands our tied by an insurance company or by Medicare or Medicaid,” Ouzts said. “When additional paperwork is required by insurance companies or those programs, and it takes a little longer, sometimes patients don’t really understand.”
Ouzts said his favorite thing about the pharmacy is “helping someone after hours.”
“The most fun for me is helping someone after hours,” he said. “That’s when you know you’re really making a difference. Anyone can go anywhere between 8 (a.m.) and 6 (p.m.), but if you seek out just that pharmacy after hours, that really says something.”
