Bled Tanoe, PharmD

09/11/2025

Someone once asked me what was the very last thing I wanted to get accomplished before hanging my hat from this journey. And I said I wanted to make sure that something meaningful was done for Ashleigh Anderson.

Today, I was made aware that Mr Larry Anderson, Ashleigh’s dad has chosen a room to be named after Ashleigh at the new Purdue campus. This is such an amazing and beautiful legacy in the hardship of this tremendous loss.

While there is already some funding available for the donation of the room, we still need help to bring this to complete fruition.

Please stay tuned when we share donation links. I hope I can count on this beautiful community to help me bring this to life.

I can’t thank enough my two amazing contacts at Purdue who have been working so tirelessly to make this possible. You have been amazing.

I know it will never make this loss easier to endure.

But it is the very least we can do.

And I am so grateful and humbled to the Anderson family for their continued trust in me.

09/10/2025

We can play the blame game all day. We can ignore the facts that are right in a front of us. You can put our statements which contradict the reality behind closed doors . The truth is Dr. Ashleigh Anderson deserved better. She deserved to have been seen, heard and supported . But instead she was bullied and reprimanded and made to be afraid. Her life mattered. Today, her family is remembering…grieving moments they will never have with her. Time has stopped.

And yet the greed of major retailers like Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy is still growing.

She should be here. She should be here.

Ashleigh Anderson's 2021 heart attack death while working as a CVS pharmacist became a viral tale of extreme pressure to hit corporate goals.

09/05/2025

I once toyed with the idea of applying for a position in our board of Pharmacy. But I knew that it was a long reach. I had honestly publicly shown that I was not one to become silent on Pharmacists, Technicians and Pharmacy Students issues and thus patient safety.

But the idea was shot down quickly and I was reminded that because of that very public stand… I would never sit on the board of pharmacy. It was a lost cause.

How unfortunate that the very people who are meant to promote patients safety by promoting Pharmacy professionals safety… are the very ones who hold us back by their politics.

And listen, there are amazing BOPs out there. Let’s not generalize.

But the truth is… the majority are just made of individuals who would not even fill their prescriptions at their local chains because they understand the danger.

And that hypocrisy is beyond me.

Kudos to Michael Bedenbaugh, PharmD, MBA, MS, FNHIA for making such a powerful and bold move.

It is a huge sacrifice to stand up to the giants. They would come for you. But hold your head high.

08/29/2025

Official announcement

To my Beautiful Community,

Last week you poured so much beauty and light and encouragement in my heart in response to my post.

I am not going to lie and pretend that I was not in a very hard place…filled with disappointment and a sense of failure.

But in the most critical way, you reminded me that all this work was indeed never in vain and that in all its imperfections, it propelled our profession forward.

Whether the effects are palpable or measurable according to mine or others standards, to many of you, it left its mark. And one of those marks, was this amazing letter from our friends from Europe.

And I am so incredibly grateful to have stood with you , for you and by you during the last three years.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you beautiful community for everything you have been to me. You have become part of my family. You encouraged me. You corrected me. You believed in me. You defended me. You shared your stories with me.

You have transformed me by your bravery.

I charge you to never forget that you matter. That you are worth every fight. Do not forget that you are of infinite value and importance.

Take care of yourselves. Believe in yourselves. Love yourselves enough to save yourselves when you see that you can no longer breathe.

This is not goodbye.

It is simply… see you later.

And truly, I love you. So very much.

Bled Tanoe.

08/25/2025

It has been an heavy hat:

When I started , I have never imagined what it had become now. I thought to myself… “this is one informational social media post and then we move on”.

But then it became so much and yet at the same time… so little.
This morning, I woke up absolutely frustrated.

Frustrated at the failure of Pharmacy entities and organizations to do what was needed to be done in order to protect the pharmacy professionals in terms of workplace issues.

Someone once accused me of being only a social media advocate with not legislative action or power and boy I felt that strongly this morning. I have written and written. I have done interviews after interviews. I have been on podcasts. I stood before BOPs and spoke with pharmacy organizations. I have spoken at conferences.

And yet, 4 years later… we are still here.

But my frustration even moved further with the realization that community pharmacy employers have this power to bend the laws to their will…how their lobbying power is so overwhelming to the point of crushing any resistance towards them.

And I am also angry at myself because I got sucked into this big dream of making changes and I put on this heavy hot and I labored so much alongside amazing people and yet… here I am….nothing.

I know you would tell me that our current situation is not a reflection of me or you and that I could not be so naive to believe that a single entity like me… could make lasting changes.

But it was not naivety that led me to put myself out there .

It is was hope that even if this hat was too heavy, I could still wear it.

And the truth is… I don’t believe that I have anything else to give at this time. Perhaps something would turn out later on.

But I have exposed all I could expose. I have fought all I could have fought. I have knocked on all the doors I could have knocked on.

I don’t need to take space on platforms just to exist or to gain more followers. I don’t care about that.

The hat has gotten to heavy.

And I think… I just think… maybe it is time to hang it…not just temporary…but perhaps forever.

08/23/2025

Where are all my female Pharmacists ? Yall be thick and helpful and giving discount 😂😂😂❤️❤️❤️

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8BfFJLe/ n

40.2K likes, 829 comments. “The legal drug dealers who heal our souls. Simply amazing”

08/12/2025

Dear Rick Gates ,

Let’s try this again. Yes we all know that the three main points you stated in this article, play a vital role in the crush we face.

But perhaps, we should try to not omit another important factor which is the staffing problem that is fueled by poor company values and a culture that is emotionally, physically and financially abusive to the employees. Let’s not forget that CVS Health which owns the biggest PBM in this country is also in crisis and reimbursements are not the main issues.

You can call or oranges… apples and move on to your delusional world.

But we all know that until you and every healthcare system see employees as human beings, deserving of dignity and value, we would always be in crisis.

So please do us all a favor and refrain from writing things which are filled on lies on which you can easily chock on.

https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/12/community-pharmacy-crisis-rite-aid-bankruptcy-walgreens/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwMIY5RleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHlg1mlA0GUye50Q8E3wcKfxxnzCdmyK8Qob_-3WP27fnziPMos5yC7VyVvAS_aem_W2M4tIvjdp4ev1U9d-_vmw

“If we don’t act now, we’ll lose one of the most efficient, cost-effective access points in the U.S. health care system,” writes Walgreens’ chief pharmacy officer.

07/29/2025

Here is the link to the “ final “
Investigation.

CVS released a statement to News 8 and provided more details on its investments, colleague support initiatives, and the acquisition of Rite Aid prescription files.

07/27/2025

We are waiting for the complete investigation. Very interesting to see how this turns out.

Dan Hussar is a retired professor at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy who now writes a newsletter, "The Pharmacist Activist." He's concerned about two ph...

07/01/2025

So are we going? Because my name is Krista now😂😂😂

06/24/2025

I know this is unfortunately a bit later than sooner. I wonder if they felt compelled to do this because of the all the social media posts. And this is not cvs admitting anything by the way. But if you are part of the district, please make use of this opportunity to speak to someone about what unraveled the last week.

Grief is very tricky and difficult and messy. Please don’t grieve alone. Use the help Phriends.

Sending so much love and prayers to all of you who are affected by this.

06/22/2025

When came to me, I received several criticisms for not releasing her name. People got into my inbox, calling me opportunistic, wanting to hold on to the information for me like i was “
special” . One pharmacist told me that I was basically useless because I did not want to use the information I had to bring changes and that he would create a law on her name.

But I knew in my gut that it was not ok to release her name without her family approval. And yes her name was out there. But for some reasons, people wanted it to come from me. Thank goodness, social media Phriends like The Accidental Pharmacist and Rxcomedy
supported my stand by also not releasing her name. I remember messaging some pharmacy pages and asking , begging them to remove her name from their posts. The Anderson family had not given consent for her name to be released . They were still grieving and processing.

Weeks after her story came out, her family reached out. They were grateful that I had withheld her name. And we started to build a trusting relationship. And I cherish them so much.

Why am I telling you this? Yesterday, I mentioned that I would not share the names of the pharmacists who passed away in PA. I believed that family and friends needed to grieve in peace without this very private information, floating out there. Withholding their names did not diminish the impact of what I wanted to accomplish. It did not diminish the fact that we need to pay close attention to our professionals and their mental health.

But withholding their names keeps the grief intimate. It allows loved ones to process without the eyes of the public on them. It allows loved ones to realize how much their lives have changed without the distraction of the outside world.

After receiving a very important information tonight on one of the pharmacists, I am more than grateful to have listen to my gut. So much more grateful.

Yes let’s talk about mental health and let’s work together to bring changes. But when death is so raw and so unexpected and of this nature, let’s above all remember those who are left behind and honoring them by allowing them to be the ones to tell the story when they are ready.