Page 30 - rp-may-2020

PHARMACY PROFILE 28
RET AIL PHARMA C Y • MA Y 2020
FOOTE’S PHARMACY REDBANK PLAINS, QUEENSLAND
FAST FACTS
Name:
Community pharmacist/
proprietor Gary McGraw.
How long have you been
a pharmacist?
22 years.
How many staff do you employ?
37.
How long have you operated your
current pharmacy?
17 years.
Do you offer professional services?
We offer most of the professional
services, such as Webster-paks,
vaccinations, home delivery, sleep
apnoea, baby clinic, opioid substitution
program and home medication reviews.
What kind of customers do you attract?
It’s a very mixed demographic,
from young families to quite elderly
customers. There are some quite low
socio-economic areas close to us as
well, so very mixed.
What is the philosophy for your
pharmacy business?
My philosophy has always been to
help people.
What is the size of your pharmacy?
500sqm.
What is the most successful OTC
category in your pharmacy and why?
The pain management area on our
schedules counter, probably, and I think
the reason is that there seems to be a
lot of under-treated pain.
C
ommunity pharmacies were
among the first to quickly
respond and effectively
adapt to the challenges of
COVID-19, with no better example
than Foote’s Pharmacy in Redbank
Plains, a suburb in the Queensland
city of Ipswich.
In a shopping centre that includes
three supermarkets, a Target and
variety stores, Foote’s was one of the
first to implement safety procedures
for COVID-19 at a very early stage of
the pandemic’s breakout.
Pharmacist and part owner, Gary
McGraw says one of the biggest
challenges was keeping his staff safe.
“Making them wear masks and
eyeglasses as part of their uniform
was probably the first adjustment we
made,” he said.
Another step adopted early was to
position a staff member at the front
entrance of the pharmacy to screen
customers for their temperature and
provide them with hand sanitiser,
while monitoring the number of
people entering the store at any
one time to ensure social distancing
requirements were met. However,
these actions certainly took locals by
surprise at first, with some resisting
the changes.
“I think people didn’t understand,
so we had some issues with some of
them not wanting their temperature
taken and also wondering why we
had the distance requirements from
counters,” Mr McGraw said.
“I think everyone was in a state of
panic. It was more the uncertainty
affecting people who were already
highly strung during that time, but
then, overwhelmingly, the tide really
changed and people started to
appreciate the things we were doing.”
Installing acrylic screens to allow
customers to get up close to the
counter while still shielding them from
staff was the next step in ensuring
the pharmacy kept trading during
challenging circumstances.
“One and a half metres is quite
a long distance,” Mr McGraw said.
“Things like reaching the eftpos
machine were a real struggle, and
it was also quite difficult to counsel
customers at such distance, especially
on delicate subject matters.”
As with many other businesses,
the pharmacy’s operating system
struggled at first to cope with the
challenges of a pandemic evolving
so rapidly.
“Looking after our customers like
we normally would was really hard in
that panic-buying stage,” Mr McGraw
said. “Our systems struggled.
We were seeing 300 to 400 faxes
plus emails coming through, which
we’ve never dealt with before,
and customers coming in for their
scripts. Things were happening so
quickly, and coming up with a good
system when you’re just so busy and
everyone’s panicking is difficult, but I
think everyone handled the situation
really well.”
The pharmacy quickly implemented
an emergency protocol to ensure
no disruption would affect its
everyday running.
“We ensured remote access to our
dispensary in Webster computers
from my home and also one of the
pharmacies [Footes Pharmacy Group
co-owner] Cameron Foote and I
owned in [nearby] Collingwood Park,
so that in a worst-case situation we’d
be able to access our customers’
scripts and also our Webster patients’
medication profiles,” Mr McGraw said.
“We also uploaded our methadone
and stage supply scripts onto the
cloud so we can access those from an
alternative pharmacy if need be.”
Now the next step for the pharmacy
is to reach a point where it is two
weeks ahead on all Webster-paks, so
it can be prepared for any eventuality.
“If one of our staff members was to
get COVID-19, everyone in contact
with that person for the 24 hours
prior would need to be quarantined
for 14 days, which would put a lot of
pressure on our pharmacies if we
were behind in our Webster packing,”
Mr McGraw said. “Preparing is key.”
However, amid the adversity, there
were some positive outcomes.
Foote’s Pharmacy hired new staff who
were friends of current employees
and had lost their previous jobs due
to the pandemic’s restrictions.
By Marcela Araneda