Pharmacist’s Rx: a Flood of Charity

When the smoke cleared from the devastating fires of 1993, pharmacist Susan McCalla Ornellas gave free medication, toothbrushes, eyedrops and other necessities to hundreds of victims.

Then she did the same after devastating rains flooded the area after the fire and again in 1995.

For all of that, she was recently recognized by the 6,000-member California Pharmacists Assn. as its 1996 Bowl of Hygeia recipient for outstanding community service.

“It’s one of the most prestigious awards for pharmacists in the United States,” said Carlo Michelotti, a spokesman for the pharmacists association in Sacramento. “It’s for Susan’s significant achievement in the community.”

Ornellas, 40, of Lake Forest, said it began when one of the nearly 400 people who lost their homes in the fire couldn’t pay for his medication.

“I said to myself . . . , ‘If I had lost my home, this guy could be me.’ And I said, ‘Here, take it anyway.’ ”

For two weeks, Ornellas gave what the store had. It cost the business at least $45,000, she said, but her father, Charles “Mac” McCalla, who founded the store three decades ago, and her husband, Frank, both supported her decision.

Perhaps it had something to do with that customer, she said, or perhaps it had to do with the fact that three of her 10 employees also lost their homes in the fire.

“It just hit me in the heart that it was the only right thing to do,” Ornellas said.

The award, given to only one person each year, includes a trip to Philadelphia where Ornellas will be a guest at a recognition dinner.