Pharmacy owner is superhero to customers
The saying goes “not all heroes wear capes,” but some do wear costumes.
Mayank Amin, or “Dr. Mak” as he’s fondly called by his customers, is a pharmacist and owner of Skippack Pharmacy at 4118 W. Skippack Pike in Schwenksville.
Over the past several months, patrons of the pharmacy or followers of the business’s social media platforms may have seen him looking like many of the ever-so popular protagonists from comic books and Marvel movies.
His cast of characters include Batman, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Superman.
However, he said Superman is his most treasured costume.
“Superman’s my favorite because of his ability to fly and fight the bad guys,” Amin said. “Although I wish I could fly, fight COVID and serve more patients, the costume gives me energy to keep going and do whatever I can with what I’ve been tasked to do.”
As reports of area residents beginning to contract the novel coronavirus increased, Amin said his days have gotten much longer as he works to fulfill orders for people. He said he typically gets “home between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m. every night.”
The Lansdale native said he’ll then head right back to the pharmacy around 8:30 a.m. the next morning, and will be greeted by cars in the parking lot with patrons ready to get their prescriptions filled.
Amin said that his customers are “scattered throughout Montgomery County,” but the pharmacy offers a free delivery service.
“All we can do is … be able to deliver to everybody we can to ... lend them a helping hand,” Amin said.
After about 1½ years in business, Amin said he’s valued the personal connections he’s made with his clients.
“I feel like what I’m doing is not work; it’s not a job,” Amin said. “It’s my passion and it’s my calling and that’s why I actually love what I do.”
While the idea to dress up as a superhero came about pre-pandemic, it’s definitely come in handy over the past few months.
Amin said a “paralyzed patient” emailed him requesting assistance getting a flu shot. Amin said he planned to do so at the patient’s house in Montgomery County, but he wanted to do something special — and he did just that by transforming from the pharmacist version of Clark Kent to “Dr. Supermak.”
Amin said a few weeks later he received a message on New Year’s Eve from a Montgomery County mother requesting that a prescription be filled for her son.
It was another opportunity for Amin to cheer up a child in need. When Amin got to the house, he recalled the child being so excited, “it was as if he had actually seen Superman.”
Several months later, Amin said he pulled out the costume once again to make a delivery to a home in Skippack. He added he was caught on camera, and the homeowner then put the footage and a photo on Instagram for other area residents to see.
Amin said he typically dons a superhero costume whenever he’s picking up pieces of personal protective equipment for Montgomery County’s first responders. He will then keep the costume on for the rest of the day while he’s at the Schwenksville pharmacy, which is classified as an essential business, or making deliveries throughout the area.
“You might be surprised by who’s standing behind the counter,” he said.
However, before suiting up, Amin gets a little help from his own personal superhero: his mother, Rashmika. He added that she’ll often press and put “the final touches on my superhero costumes before I put them on.”
Over the past several weeks, he’s estimated wearing the ensembles nearly 20 times. According to Amin, he has donated approximately 15,000 pieces of different kinds of personal protective equipment such as gloves, gowns, face shields, masks and hand sanitizer.
Amin said he’d like to try and provide a sense of calm and bring joy to the people who receive a delivery or visit the pharmacy on Skippack Pike in Schwenksville.
“Customers, obviously, they walk in, they see a superhero, you see a smile on their face,” he said. “Even amidst all the fears they have of the coronavirus. Just the image helps them be relaxed. Like you know what someone’s actually by my side.”
However, he did humbly clarify that he does not “consider myself a superhero at all” because he performs these small acts of kindness.
“I’m just one person here representing the thousands of actual superheroes in our county who are going out there and helping,” he said.
Amin was also previously featured in an article from The Pharmacy Times.
Without giving too much away, Amin also shared a tidbit about his plans to surprise a Plymouth Meeting child with the help of some area first responders.
“I’m going to be coming in dressed in my superhero costume with the actual superheroes thatI view: the first responders and people working out in health care,” he said.
Despite these difficult times, Amin said he’s determined to continue doing his part to help Montgomery County residents smile, and persevere through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That’s the little part I’m doing with this superhero costume,” Amin said. “[I’m] just going out there and helping whoever I can, and doing my fair share to help out the world, even if it’s just our own county and I’ll continue to do that going forward because that’s what I signed up for by being a pharmacist.”