HARLINGEN — The personal touch.
That’s what Andrew Zamorategui offers his patients at Cares RX, which he has owned and operated since 2008.
“I really enjoy the business aspect as far as creating relationships with people,” said Zamorategui, 36. “When we started here in ‘08, my patients from ‘08 are having babies now. Being able to see that progression and seeing that connection is pretty unique.”
The Houston native started out working at a chain pharmacy after college and found that chain stores weren’t for him.
“They were kind of a numbers game, and here I can actually communicate and build connections and relationships with people,” he said. “Our patients, we know them as soon as they walk in the door. At a big chain, you might not know the pharmacist and you’ve been going there for five or six years.”
Obviously, he wasn’t happy with that work situation, so when the business opportunity arose in Harlingen he went for it.
“I told my wife, ‘If we don’t make it, we’re broke already so it doesn’t matter,’” he said with a laugh while filling prescriptions at his business at 4501 Hale Ave.
But, they did make it.
“I still have the very first employee I hired back in 2008,” he said. “It’s more of a family or unit as opposed to a big chain.”
Pharmacy seems to be a family tradition.
“I am the fifth pharmacist in my family,” he said. “I saw a lot of my family go into pharmacy. I wasn’t too familiar with it when I first thought about doing it. What I did know was that it was a high-paying field. Coming from a low-to-middle income family, it was a way to get out of that struggle.”
He and his wife have three daughters. His wife previously worked as a registered nurse but is now studying to become a nurse practitioner.
