CVS Health celebrates 60 years with a warm welcome and a look back

Over the years, Lea has welcomed thousands of colleagues and visitors to CVS Health headquarters. Remarkably, she knows nearly everybody’s name.

CVS Health proudly marks its 60^th anniversary May 8 while Aetna celebrates 170 years May 28. This article is the first in a series featuring some of our longest-serving colleagues.

“Hi Bill, how was your weekend?”

“Therese, did you get to visit with your grandchildren?”

It’s 8:00 a.m. on a recent Monday morning and Lea Bousquet is manning the security desk cheerfully welcoming colleagues to 1 CVS Health® in Woonsocket, RI. She’s the first point of contact for the company and, like the theme song from the TV show Cheers, she knows nearly everybody’s name. “I guess it’s about 2,000 names,” Lea admits.

Her style rings of old-fashioned courtesy, an example of how one person can help hundreds of people in a Fortune 4 company of 300,000 feel connected and even start their day with a smile.  

Lea began working at CVS Health on April 21, 37 years ago. Well, even before that if you count when she was 16 helping at her local pharmacy in between cheerleading practice. “I remember the blizzard of 1978 when Arthur Bernardo, pharmacist at the Cumberland CVS Pharmacy, called me,” Lea recalls. “Customers were homebound but desperate for their prescriptions, so my parents let me walk a mile in the snow to the pharmacy. There was no power, so we lit flashlights and candles to deliver medication. I kept notes so patients could pay once the banks reopened.”

Turning back time

Today, as a security coordinator Lea checks in up to 3,000 colleagues a day, as well as visitors. President and CEO Karen Lynch visits frequently. “She’s very personable,” Lea says, adding that she treats everyone, CEO and cleaning crew, with the same courtesy. As part of her job, Lea also handles 911 calls and confidential situations.

“You know, I started when we only had 250 stores, we now have over 9,000.”

Lea’s first job was in the billing department, “I manually keyed in 200 insurance claims a day.” Over the years she worked in merchandizing and as an administrative assistant. “I used a typewriter back then.”

When asked about CVS Health celebrating 60 years, Lea gushes. “I’m so proud. I want everyone to feel the way I do – that CVS is the best company to work for.”

As for words of wisdom, “Treat people like you want to be treated. They may not remember what you said, but they’ll remember how you treated them.”

Oh, and about Lea’s uncanny ability to recall names. “There’s no cheat sheet,” she swears. “And I don’t know if I have a photographic memory. I just put a name to a face, and I guess because I love my job and I love the people I work with so much I remember who they are.”

Thank you, Lea, for helping us celebrate six decades of welcoming people to CVS Health. #CVSHeartAtWork

Visit the Historical Timeline to learn more about the history of CVS Health. 

Do you know a CVS colleague who brings their heart to every moment of our customers’ health? We want to hear. Email us at HeartatWork@CVSHealth.com. And, visit our Heart At Work home page for more stories about our wonderful Heart At Work heroes: Heartbeat.