Growing up, Sheri Ferrell was the kind of kid who always gave her best, whether she was delivering papers on her daily route or scooping ice cream at the local ice cream parlor. In high school, she never considered herself an outstanding student. “I had to work my butt off to get decent grades,” she admits. “I knew if I went to college, I’d have to work really hard. But my path didn’t go that way. And the path that I took and where I’m at now is extraordinary,” she says. 

Her path started when she applied at a deep discount drugstore as a cashier. After ringing up customers for a short three months, she was approached by someone in the pharmacy who thought she’d make a great replacement for a technician that had recently left. “They asked my manager who he thought would make a good pharmacy tech. So, they picked me. I just kind of fell into it,” Sheri says. 

Learning By Doing 

She worked at the retail pharmacy for eight years. “I liked the customers I dealt with, and I liked learning about the new medications. I always liked learning, but back then we didn’t have the resources that the kids have now to get into college. So, I just kept working,” she says. 

Eventually, in 1995, several more discount drug stores began to move into the area and Sheri became worried about the competition. She was speaking with a customer who worked at Mercy Hospital and shared her fears about the company going out of business and her potentially losing her job. “The woman said, ‘Why don’t you apply at Mercy? They’re always hiring.’” She took the chance, applied and was hired. 

More Than Two Decades of Dedication 

Sheri’s first position at Mercy Hospital — and for the next 17 years — was as a midnight pharmacy technician. “The schedule worked best for my family,” Sheri explains. And when the opportunity eventually presented itself for her to move into a lead technician role, she went for it — and got it.  

Now the Assistant Manager, Pharmacy Operations at Mercy Hospital (Mercy Hospital joined the Cleveland Clinic healthcare organization in 2002), she belongs to a team of approximately 60 caregivers and oversees 23 pharmacy technicians. 

Strong Leadership, Safe Outcomes 

Sheri likes to head in to work early to catch up with the midnight technicians and get up to speed on any relevant updates before the day begins. She posts the schedules for the team on a magnetic board, meets with her lead technicians to coordinate workflow, assigns all the medications to the carousel (an automatic medication storage/retrieval systems), and monitors discrepancies/approves user access for Pyxis units (automated dispensing cabinets for nurses). 

While most of her time is spent behind the scenes, Sheri has a profound impact on her patients by ensuring the carousel and Pyxis units are always stocked with the correct medications. This allows nurses to get needed treatments to their patients without delay — making a real difference in their care and recovery. 

Trusted Instincts at Work 

While Sheri’s not a fan of taking credit for her work, she does admit that her years of experience have helped her catch and resolve issues in the workflow. Recently, for example, when a few technicians were unable to scan a compounded medication into the refrigerated carousel, they put it in Sheri’s office for her to handle. 

When Sheri went to check on the drug, she noticed that some doses were missing. Suspecting a rookie technician had stocked it incorrectly, she told her lead tech, “Do me a favor. Go into cart three and look for this medication. Sure enough, it was rookie tech thing, and it was stocked in the wrong area. The lead tech was able to grab it and stock it in the right area,” says Sheri. It’s her attention to detail in situations like these that helps keep the department running properly. 

Skills Over School 

Sheri is a perfect example of how being good at your job can manifest itself into a rewarding career — even without a college degree. “Just the fact that I didn’t know about college and I just fell into this field and was able to make a decent living wage. I mean, you don’t have to go to college to have a good career. You really don’t.”