We provide mental health care when and where people need it like after the Maui fires, when Ashley Karpinski, Executive Director, Enterprise Collaboration and Care Delivery, arrived in Lahaina on the island of Maui in August 2023. More than 100 people died from the wildfires, their homes and belongings destroyed. Ashley was there providing grief counseling to colleagues, many who worked at our Long’s Pharmacy location, as well as customers and community members.
“As a company we care, and me being there to provide psychological first aid to help them process their loss, is a testament to that,” Ashley says.
Ashley offers clinical leadership on a national level and works to improve access to care in a variety of ways beyond grief counseling. She and her team oversee a care center that helps patients, including Aetna members and Resources for Living participants, schedule and navigate mental health care; she helps external employers better understand their employees’ mental health needs; and she partners with senior leaders nationwide, providing education on how to prevent burn out and increase colleague engagement.
Values in action: We care.
Much of Ashley’s childhood was spent in Central America.
“I witnessed poverty firsthand — people without basic necessities like shoes, people with no health care,” Ashley says. “Watching how my family unit cared for people helped foster my own passion.”
After nearly 30 years working in the field of mental health, first as a bilingual therapist for minors and now as a leader at CVS Health, Ashley continues to take a human-first approach to her work.
“My whole journey has been about serving people,” Ashley says. “There are so many opportunities to show up with kindness and care and to teach others.”
Learn more: Our new company values guide how we act, make decisions and deliver on our promises. We care. We innovate with purpose. We are accountable. We prioritize safety and quality. They are not just statements; they are expectations for how we show up every day.
