Situated in the middle of downtown in the quaint northwest Missouri town of Chillicothe is Hometown HealthMart Pharmacy, home to Scott Cady. Working side-by-side with his wife Mary, he is one of the lead pharmacists at Hometown as well as a partial owner. To top it all off, as pharmacy technician Jessica Zeger says, “he’s the best boss I’ve ever had to work with.”

Scott has been working at Hometown since 2006 when he graduated from the University of Kansas with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. This, however, was not his start into the world of pharmacy.

Growing up in the Kansas City area, his father worked in the pharmaceutical industry doing research and development and Scott planned on going along similar lines as he attended Baylor University. After graduation, he moved north to Cincinnati, Ohio to work for a pharmaceutical research company but ultimately knew he needed to continue his education. Eventually, Scott moved back to the Kansas City area and enrolled at the KU School of Pharmacy in 2002. While in school, Scott says his areas of interest shifted from research based to more clinically thinking.

Scott moved to Chillicothe in 2006 and began working at Hometown, where he met Melissa King. While the two are similar in age, she was a veteran to him since she had been in the business for near six years before he came to Hometown. She says it was interesting working with him at the beginning because while he was clinically based, he still brought on that research side he had learned in Ohio and prior. This way of thinking varied from her own real-world practical setting ideal.

“He really looks at all the clinical aspects and evaluates the patient and the medication,” King says. It’s nice that we all think a little differently and bring different aspects to the table for the same result.

Being there for the patients is another strong asset that Scott brings to the table according to King.

“I would put him up with any doctor on his bedside manner,” she says.

Keeping his patients in mind is something Zeger says he does an “A+ job at.” Several days prior, Zeger says, an elderly patient whose son had just passed away suddenly came into Hometown and ended up breaking down and crying in Scott’s arms and before the staff knew it, Scott was tearing up right along side the patient.

“You wouldn’t see that in another pharmacy,” Zeger says. “We all know these people by name as soon as they walk in the door and I think that is the most important thing.”

In the fall of 2006 Scott joined the Missouri Pharmacy Association. One of his first duties was being apart of the Continuing Education committee, followed by the new membership committee and finally to his current post as a Member-at-Large of the Board of Directors. While he has worn several different hats for the MPA, he says he’s always known joining was the best thing to do.

“While I was at the University of Kansas, I was greatly involved with the Kansas Pharmacy Association as well as the American Pharmacist Association, so being in associations and being able to help direct our profession or educate the people who help direct our profession has kind of always been there for me. Joining MPA was kind of a no brainer,” says Scott. “I want to make sure we do what we want to do that’s in the best interest of our patients.”

While he may be a Jayhawk in Tiger country, he is still a dedicated pharmacist to all his patients and staff, he is also a wonderful husband and father to his wife and two small children say King and Zeger. Scott and his wife Mary have a 2-year-old son who in Scotts words, “will be more intelligent than he is some day,” and a 3-month-old daughter who was born over the summer.

“I’ve seen Scott and his wife Mary as they went from newlyweds to growing their family,” King says. “They’re learning how to balance pharmacy with being parents and the fact that Scott’s still devoted to organizations like MPA shows that they know what life’s all about.”