'Paying It Forward' with Piedmont Health's Eshan Safaya

Welcome to “Paying it Forward,” a monthly interview series made possible by Piedmont Health. In this series, we hear from the folks at Piedmont about the importance of community health centers – and why they chose a career in community health.

This month, Aaron welcomes pharmacist Eshan Safaya, who ‘floats’ between all of Piedmont’s locations. He’s been in the pharmacy field for nearly a decade, and he says he’s never been happier.

“I’ve worked in big-chain corporate environments, (where) of course you’re taking care of patients, but a lot of the focus is on profitability,” he says. “I had done that for a long time, and I really wanted to do something more meaningful, something that was serving the community – and when I saw what Piedmont was doing, it was really exciting to me.”

Safaya was driven to pursue a career in healthcare from a very young age, joining many of his family members – including his sister, who was a pharmacist herself.

“I’ve always enjoyed being in any field that’s serving people, and healthcare just seemed like a natural fit for me,” he says.

Safaya adds that the Piedmont Health model is enabling him to fulfill that personal commitment to service all the more.

“A lot of (our) patients are driving two, three hours,” he says. “They don’t have access to a lot of providers, this might be the only visit they have all year – and so you really do get to make a huge impact in these patients’ lives. I think sometimes it’s easy to take that for granted, but every now and then, you talk to a patient and see how thankful they are, and it highlights the importance of what we do.”

And Safaya says that positive feeling extends all throughout Piedmont Health – from patients to providers, and everyone in between.

“One of the things that I see, especially when I go to different locations every day, is (that) people are genuinely excited to be at work, because they know what they’re doing is meaningful,” he says. “I think one of the most gratifying things about working for this company is that you come into work and you know you’re doing something meaningful. You know you’re serving people and you know you’re able to make a living doing that. You can’t really ask for much more…

“What’s most exciting for me is the work that we’re doing in the community. I got into this field to be able to help people and take care of people, and the fact that I can do that every day is something I’m very grateful for.”

97.9 The Hill WCHL and Chapelboro.com are your headquarters for local news and local voices in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Every weekday morning, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck chats with government officials, UNC scholars, business and nonprofit leaders, area musicians, and others in our community as they share their thoughts, their experience, and their expertise on the central issues of today. Click here to listen back to all of Aaron’s conversations – and tune in to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” at 7:30 a.m. on 97.9 The Hill to hear those conversations live.

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‘Paying It Forward’ with Piedmont Health’s Eshan Safaya

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