Page 31 - rp-may-2020

PHARMACY PROFILE
29
RET AIL PHARMA C Y • MA Y 2020
“One of them is an added delivery
driver and the other person is
allocated at the front entrance doing
the temperature screening and
providing hand sanitiser to customers,”
Mr McGraw said.
Now that most procedures are
in place and everyone is familiar
with the ‘new normal’, staff and
customers are carrying on with life in
the COVID-19 environment.
“The one important thing I learnt early
on was to act quickly and not try to be
perfect,” Mr McGraw said. “I learnt it
from a video stream at APP2020, which
talked about how Italian pharmacies
lost 40 per cent of the workforce within
the first seven days, so putting in
barriers to protect your staff as much as
you can was first, and then fine-tuning
things a little bit, later on.”
With the Redbank Plains business
part of the 10-pharmacy Footes
Pharmacy Group, Mr McGraw believes
being part of a network presents
an advantage when confronting
unprecedented issues.
“We could all help each other,
brainstorm together, come up with
solutions and act fast,” he said of
the network.
“The other thing I learnt is that
patience is key, because disasters
affect everyone so differently. It’s
really important to always use common
sense. No systems were designed in
our pharmacies, nor the wholesalers,
or anywhere really, to cope with the
strain and pressure put on them during
this disaster, so you just have to have
patience, do the best you can and
realise that it won’t last forever.”
Community pharmacies have not
only risen to the challenge, they are
excelling at providing a pathway for
others to follow, Mr McGraw says.
“I think pharmacy has done a
wonderful job looking after our
communities in an extraordinarily
difficult time, and really being at the
forefront of this pandemic,” he said.
“In many ways we’re educating people
on what to do, finding solutions for our
customers’ health problems caused
by things outside of our control, like
global medication shortages, and
looking after the most vulnerable in
our areas.
“I think it’s really driven home to me
the important role pharmacy plays in
our communities. To me, that’s the
key message.”
“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.”