Page 29 - Retail Pharmacy Magazine October 2020

PHARMACY PROFILE 27 made use of the multitude of policies and procedures that TerryWhite Chemmart had developed to help deal with things like the influx of fax and email prescriptions. Deliveries boomed overnight, so we bought a car and hired a driver. We also adopted a split roster, so we had two different teams that didn’t overlap in the event that perhaps one of the teams had an outbreak of Covid within them.” Mr Watson and his team were also instrumental in providing flu vaccinations to those that needed them most during the height of the pandemic. “At the beginning of this pandemic there was a crazy demand and a very low availability of flu vaccines, so we were fortunate to have enough stock and were able to vaccinate thousands within our community,” he said. “Due to the new legislation that was passed at the start of the Covid pandemic, it meant that we could leave the building and vaccinate people outside of the pharmacy.” One case was a local nursing home that couldn’t find services to inoculate their staff as they had in previous years and were becoming quite desperate until they reached out. “We were in a fortunate position that we could do it,” Mr Watson said, “and I went down there myself and we vaccinated nearly 150 of their staff members in an underground carpark, a really bizarre experience but one of the most professionally rewarding as well.” He says that for pharmacies in Victoria, the second wave felt like déjà vu. “From a business point of view, we had all the strategies and procedures in place, so it was just a matter of rolling them out again,” he said. “Customers and patients were frustrated, but panic buying, and the height of anxiety wasn’t the same in that second wave, even though it was probably more severe. There was more certainty about what was happening.” At the time of publishing there is light at the end of the tunnel for Victoria, with number of cases and deaths dropping daily. “We seem to be on top of it now with numbers coming down,” Mr Watson said. “We’ll get there. It’s just taking longer than we’d like.” He believes pharmacy as a business is very resilient when faced with adversity. “I’ve really learnt that business is incredibly resilient and nimble, so we’ve been able to roll out and adapt new policies literally overnight,” he said. “We’re sitting in a really privileged position and it’s pharmacy’s time to shine.” A final message Mr Watson wants to pass on to his fellow pharmacists is that your communities need you more than ever. “We need to take this opportunity to show those outside of our profession what an important role we play in the healthcare system,” he said. “Just stand tall and face the challenge. Overall, pharmacies have shown what incredible pillars they are in the healthcare system.” FAST FACTS Name: Pharmacist/owner Luke Watson. How long have you been a pharmacist? 15 years. How many staff do you employ? About 25. How long have you operated your current pharmacy? Six years. Do you offer professional services? Yes: vaccinations, sleep apnoea, DAAs, medication reviews, natural health, free hearing screenings, absence-from-work certificates, bowel cancer screening, blood screening, blood pressure checks, return of unwanted medicines and more. What kind of customers do you attract? A mixture of older generation starting to move on and younger families moving into the area. What is the philosophy of your pharmacy business? It’s based on the fundamentals of trust, honesty and a belief that pharmacy is a noble profession that serves our community. We’ll always aspire to be the best we can be. What is the size of your pharmacy? 240sqm What is your most successful OTC category and why? The pharmacist-only category. I guess these medicines tend to have the most therapeutic effect and we always encourage our pharmacists to prescribe the most appropriate and effective treatment for patients’ conditions. Describe your day-to-day challenges and how you overcome them. They’re probably no different to any other pharmacy owner’s, so in between dispensing scripts I’m fixing a jammed printer, solving a complex clinical problem with a doctor, and managing any staff or customer issue that may arise. I try and plan weekly on what I need to achieve, also monthly and yearly, and prioritise, then just enjoy the randomness of the day and laugh every now and then. What has been your most satisfying moment in the pharmacy? I guess my first year of becoming a partner. We had a Chemist Warehouse opening up in our suburb and were also faced with the full impact of price disclosure. I was quite concerned about what was going to happen and whether my first 12 or 24 months of becoming an owner would be my last, but we came up with a pretty good strategy of how we were going to cope with everything. It turned out that we had the best 12 to 18 months, in terms of growth, in the history of the pharmacy, despite the challenges that were ahead of us, and through that we also went on to win the TerryWhite Pharmacy of the Year Award, so that was really satisfying. But I think that my most satisfying moment is going to be seeing the pharmacy through the Covid pandemic. RETAIL PHARMACY • OCT 2020