00:00:00:07 [Speaker 1]: That's just to kind of help us. I did. So the audience watching has as much information as possible. Okay. You ready? All right. So I'm going to take a picture of you first. All right. Um, uh, how are you smiling? Cause I've got some terribly bad jokes to tell you  

00:00:18:10 [Speaker 2]: That's there. I'm, I'm very much a smirky person. Can't help my smile. You can work with a mask on, I look like I'm smirking.  

00:00:29:00 [Speaker 1]: Perfect. Okay. Just  

00:00:30:11 [Speaker 2]: Trying to keep a straight face. I find very difficult. Yeah, it looks  

00:00:32:17 [Speaker 1]: Good. My jokes are quite bad. That sort of thing.  

00:00:36:10 [Speaker 2]: Mine are unbelievable with dad jokes as bad as my dad doesn't sing.  

00:00:41:08 [Speaker 1]: Okay, cool. Um, you guys rolling? Yeah. Rolling. So the first thing I want to ask you is what frustrates you about pharmacy?  

00:00:49:13 [Speaker 2]: Well, frustrating. Um, uh, what frustrates me about pharmacy is sometimes not having enough time. And sometimes I think, uh, uh, there's a lack of understanding from, um, possibly the government, um, with not with how much that we are able to do and what we are capable of doing pharmacy. Is there such an easy, accessible source of information? And they've got many, many skilled people who work in pharmacy and are very, very capable of helping, uh, people, uh, live better. And in more 

00:01:26:03 healthy lifestyles,  

00:01:28:03 [Speaker 1]: Is there something about the way the public maybe MIS understands pharmacy? Do you find frustrating? That's all.  

00:01:35:01 [Speaker 2]: Um, sometimes I think, um, they come with the perception, uh, with the public that we, uh, stick labels and boxes, and that is the limit to what we were able to do. Um, thankfully, uh, it's, it's becoming more common now that people are aware that we are able to do other things. Um, and when they see what we're able to do, it sort of opens up a new world to them. The obvious one being, uh, flu jabs. We do many hundreds. Um, every flu season, every pharmacy does many hundreds of flu 

00:02:05:23 vaccines. I wouldn't say can see that you can get your vaccine by just walking into your pharmacy. And they realized that how much of a world of information pharmacy can do so for you can start asking questions for the pharmacist faster in the consulting room. And then all of a sudden they can see that pharmacies are a great source of information. It's not just a case of looking something up. For example, they don't need to Google it. They can come in and ask the pharmacist a question. They can get the answer. Um, maybe not as quick as the internet, but it'd be a lot more accurate, not 

00:02:37:01 more reliable as well.  

00:02:38:14 [Speaker 1]: Yeah. I'm showing properties to people come in and stuff.  

00:02:41:18 [Speaker 2]: Dr. Google is our favorite. Yeah. I can understand why people do it. It's very easy accessible. It's on their phones. It's on the computers, as opposed to what people are going to do is that we're in it. That's just, that's just the way the world is now. And people want to find an answer. Um, but thankfully people have also learned that the internet isn't always an accurate  

00:03:00:02 [Speaker 1]: What prompted you to get into pharmacy to begin? Um,  

00:03:04:11 [Speaker 2]: I think I've always liked to help people and although as, as time has gone on, I think pharmacy is that also a problem solving. So I think I've always quite liked to solve problems. So from a real Beatty instinct of I'm doing crosswords where she's the thing is we're trying to solve problems, but I think it's always been a natural, um, part of my wanting to help people, um, going back to even when I was, when I was a lot, a lot younger when I was a Cub, I suppose he always wants to help people do a Baba job, do it, do it, do a good deed and what have you, and, 

00:03:38:00 um, making people better or making people happier, um, is something I really enjoy doing and helping people. Um, so yeah, that's something I really enjoy doing.  

00:03:49:19 [Speaker 1]: Oh, nice. You didn't say you were attracted to, um, dispensing pills or rapping in a shelf, which is the sort of misconception people think pharmacy is.  

00:03:59:04 [Speaker 2]: Yes. I, I mean, working in a, in retail can be appealing to people and working with people is also, uh, appealing. I mean, certainly, uh, and during the general public, it can also be very painting as well. And those are all aspects which can frustrate and also can enhance your your day. Um, but I think, uh, initially when you set out to be a pharmacist or work in pharmacy, um, that's not necessarily what you want. That's not what you're aiming to do, although it is a part as a byproduct of it. Um, so you want to help people, you want to, uh, make the lives a 

00:04:32:15 lot better and the rest of it sort of comes along with it. So working in a shop, working in retail environment, working with other members of the stuff I'm working with, the general public, um, you sort of have to pick up and learn on the way.  

00:04:46:01 [Speaker 1]: And, um, what keeps you excited about pharmacy?  

00:04:50:03 [Speaker 2]: Well, pharmacy, we're very lucky. It keeps it's forever changing. I mean, I've been, uh, working in pharmacy for nearly well over 30 years now. And, um, one thing I've enjoyed is the, the changing, um, environment and also the change in, um, re uh, roles that we can do. I mean, we go back 30 years ago when I was starting out, um, asking the pharmacist a question or there wasn't a pharmacist at the time, but finding out, uh, buying a product, um, over the counter and not inquiring about it was one was one aspect. And now we're up to a Dean flu jabs, COVID 

00:05:25:06 vaccinations, um, giving our COVID testing tests. And the whole role is developed, um, to, to our benefit and certainly to, um, certainly job satisfaction. And certainly it's, it's not the same job. It was 30 years ago, but it's changed for the better.  

00:05:45:05 [Speaker 1]: Is there anything that surprised you about how, um,  

00:05:50:04 [Speaker 2]: Some, in some ways, some of the things we said when I was at university about 20 odd years ago, maybe 25 years ago now, um, was that we wanted to be able to prescribe. Um, and that was almost like a pipe dream at the time, but now I'm a prescriber. We can prescribe prescriptions directly to patients. It's almost something we were sort of almost like a pie in the sky. Uh, we weren't quite sure where we were going to be able to get there, but now we can do these things and we've always increased our role. And, um, so it's, it's become a, uh, a career, um, that can be very 

00:06:25:03 aspirational and you can, you can do pretty much whatever you want. Um, I've been very fortunate on the way, um, being maybe ambitious, but also being very fortunate with, um, counselors who have been very good at supporting me all the way.  

00:06:41:10 [Speaker 1]: That's great. Yeah. Someone described it to us that becoming a prescriber, it felt to them kind of like before they were just the kind of piece of a puzzle, and now they can be the whole jinx or in a way that they, they don't have to just tell someone this information. They can kind of see it through the whole way, in a way.  

00:07:00:24 [Speaker 2]: Yeah. Yeah. Being a, being a prescriber can be seen as someone with a, within an additional, a jigsaw, if you almost sometimes have, um, um, rather than being a piece of the jigsaw where you can actually see, um, the whole jig. So it's almost like having, when you do a GX or when you can see the picture on the board, um, you can actually see from the outside looking in as well as being one of the PA parts, you can actually be the person who's actually looking at the board and, uh, making the jigsaw. So in some ways it's, you've almost become, um, not bigger than the game, but you've actually become a, a sort of a, a role you're actually 

00:07:34:06 in charge of the game. Um, and you're not so much of a game, but, uh, certainly, um, that's it, the analogy certainly with the jinx or, and certainly when you're doing these big jigsaws, these days quite, quite difficult without knowing what you're actually making. So it's enjoyable. So you've got someone with like a, um, another way of looking at it.  

00:07:54:15 [Speaker 1]: Yeah, that's good. Cause we kind of assumed that you wouldn't be able to do that being the lay person, but why it is like, that is fine. You said you've already got all this expertise and now that give you some sort of pallets and you use it. I wonder if you could just talk us through your career to date briefly bullet point, like maybe like, could 

00:08:25:11 you do it in a way that you say kind of why that role, that, what attracted you to that role?  

00:08:31:17 [Speaker 2]: Oh, right. Okay. Well, uh, from the school then he was go university. Okay. Yeah. I looked that old. Don't worry. Okay. Um, right. So about 30 years ago, I, uh, my, uh, I grew up in Wolverhampton and this whole, um, uh, village and there was a pharmacy which also had a post office in it. So it always had a toy shop at a home brewery and it was almost like the central hub of the village. Um, so it was almost a place 

00:09:02:15 that every Saturday you would go and this was the place I grew up. And although it was always known as the chemist, wasn't actually aware of what the actual chemist part of it was. You just went there as like the main hub. Um, so I worked there, uh, as a Saturday boy, and then I worked as a summer, uh, students, um, which must be about 19, 1991, but I was doing my GCCS and I was making decisions about what I want to do with a levels.  

00:09:28:23 [Speaker 2]: Um, so that decided for me that, which high levels I wanted to go to go and do, um, thanks to working in the pharmacy and which I continued working in the pharmacy throughout my six form, um, breach. Then you go off to university and you have to then apply for schools of pharmacy. So I went to path, um, and then work for, um, boots. Well, so as a summer student, uh, during Christmas, yeah. Um, where did my degree then you've gone to your pre-registration trainings. So that's training from 

00:10:02:21 university to, before you qualify, um, a place called just outside birth called Chippenham. Uh, once qualified went work to few for a few boots. Um, then I was very fortunate to be offered a job in a little country village in Gloucestershire, a place called Barkley, which, uh, well known for its, um, Edward Jenner museum where the smallpox vaccine was, um, uh, found it 

00:10:29:03 was also in lovely or castle there. Uh, so it was quite, quite happy there for over two or three years. And then the opportunity to come to move down South came and switched when I came down and joined, uh, Compton's uh, where I went off to, we worked in Brighton for about 18 months. And then, uh, just about 20 years ago, I came here and, uh, here I still am. Um, and whilst working here, we've developed my career, so became a prescriber about 10 years ago and, uh, things have 

00:10:59:19 taken off since then. So whilst I've been training and studying of the world of pharmacy has changed. And so fortunately I've changed with it. So different roles have become available. So subscribing came available. Um, so now I work for, um, a company called CGO, which is just, um, a substance misuse. And, um, that will be, then we also now do travel vaccines and writing prescriptions for travel vaccines, entrepreneurials.  

00:11:27:17 [Speaker 2]: Uh, so yeah, it's, um, it's, it's been, uh, I've been very, very lucky. I've been very fortunate. Um, it's, it's one of these things that you go to university and a lot of people go to university and they don't know what they want to do. Uh, sometimes even when they've been to university and they've got the degree, um, they're still not sure what they want to do because they don't necessarily know by that. So rage, we pharmacy, you qualify a pharmacist. And, um, I was very fortunate that I wanted to be a pharmacist. And once I became a pharmacist, I wanted to stay 

00:12:00:18 as a pharmacist. I, um, in some ways I was lucky, um, at that tender age of, of making, uh, my life choices. Um, but, uh, it's one I've, don't regret it at all. I'm really, I've really enjoyed. What's been the highlight, the highlight of, uh, my highlights of being a pharmacist. Um, Oh, wow. There's, there's a fair few. Um,  

00:12:27:01 [Speaker 1]: Oh,  

00:12:27:21 [Speaker 2]: I'm trying to think my favorite one. I mean, I mean, I'm very lucky the people I've worked with, I have to say that I don't mean very lucky working with accountants than do I got to say that. And, um, although I don't think I did the head office, um, uh, staff are here today. Um, I think I'm veering on a good morning Britain. Um, a couple of, uh, in back in January, I'd say at the moment that's the best, a personal favorite.  

00:12:52:12 [Speaker 1]: What did you enjoy about, um,  

00:12:54:17 [Speaker 2]: Or being on live TV? I think, um, no, I know, I know these people didn't like people to say they didn't lie. I know. I, I have to say I've, I, I don't know. I did. I saw an opportunity. I didn't think maybe ever get a chance to do that ever again. So I thought, wow, there's something to do. And, um, of course, Mel, well, the social media, of course everybody seen it. That's all my friends and family have seen it. So if they missed it on TV, which I don't know how they managed to miss it, because I think I told everybody that if they haven't, I've got recordings 

00:13:24:21 of it so they can still see it now. Um, so yeah, no, I, I enjoyed that experience. Um, but I think, I think one of the things I enjoyed most about it at the time was we were trying to promote Dean COVID pump COVID vaccines in the pharmacy. And of course we've all had a horrendous year for one reason or not. And, um, if you're like out the gateway out of this is through the vaccination service and pharmacy, uh, we're very, very keen, very, very keen, Steve 

00:13:57:05 vaccination, very, very keen to help. And then we saw this as an opportunity. Um, unfortunately we're not able to do them here, but we now we're doing them in Brighton. Um, so weekends now we're spending, uh, doing COVID vaccinations over there. So, um, although we may not have got to do it there and then back in January, but we are doing them now. So, and in some ways it's not just getting, um, pharmacy is trying to help everybody. 

00:14:26:14 We're trying to get everybody at this country. There's got we've, we've had such a hard year and anything we can do to help to get out, I'll say, Oh, I see to talk about things we're proud of.  

00:14:35:11 [Speaker 2]: I think at the, certainly the past year, how pharmacies, um, especially my pharmacy as well, but, uh, we've all coped with the pandemic. I mean, if you saw us this time, last year with people who were frightened, so it was general public to be fair on the whole of fantastic, but a lot of them were frightened then how pharmacy as a whole dealt with that, where everybody was at home. And we were sometimes the only people on the roads, only people in town doing that. We've we've we've 

00:15:09:08 um, it was certainly a, an experience hopefully we'll never have to experience again. Um, but it was certainly certainly a highlight, um, of how, um, people can deal with a very, very difficult situation. Oh yeah, yeah, no, I was just thinking, I was thinking now about the, at the end, some of the, I don't want to say turmoil we had, but I think sometimes because you don't know from one day to the next what's going to 

00:15:37:09 happen. I mean, he just like you watched the news and you didn't know from one day what was going to happen to the next and then the, for a forever changing of a face to pharmacy. I mean, TTC is usually such a bustling city and for the note for it to be like, would it be a lucky ghost town? Um, apart from ourselves, it was, um, an incredible experience. Um, it was almost, uh, one of these postdoc apocalyptic films, um, when there's nobody 

00:16:06:07 that are around, I mean, or in the drive home was a lot quicker, um, because there was no cars, but, um, yeah, it, I think at times, but, um, unfortunately, um, patients who of course were scared cause they didn't know. And sometimes people's reactions to that. You could see that they were frightened, um, which is sometimes how they sometimes dealing, uh, with, with other people. Um, but I have to say, um, yeah, I I'm, I'm really 

00:16:35:20 proud of myself a pharmacy and the staff. I think they do a fantastic, I think it was, uh, yeah, I think one of my proudest achievements, I think,  

00:16:44:10 [Speaker 1]: Okay. I wonder like Chris, we've spoken to quite a number of the people who work in healthcare and different places and they say like they do on again. It's like, it's what they signed up to do. So  

00:16:56:10 [Speaker 2]: Absolutely. Yeah, that, that is absolutely true. We have the, one of the things that, um, we, we did it and it wasn't a case of, do you want to do it? Do you want, don't want to do it? It's almost like this is what we trained for. We trained the pharmacy to, uh, ultimately to help people. And it was almost an opportunity, um, to show what we can do. Uh, in some ways it was a wonderful opportunity, I mean, terrible, terrible circumstances. But, um, it was, it was an absolutely 

00:17:27:14 wonderful opportunity for us, um, to show what we can do. And, um, yes, there was, um, the applause, um, you know, thanks to the healthcare workers, but I think it was more the fact that we, we had the opportunity to do something. Um, if you like doing, we feel like our bit, um, which, which I can quite understand why everybody will be very proud of what they did. 

00:17:54:20 Absolutely. Yeah. It's really, I can say about your Goliath When you start thinking and really reliving moments. I think you sometimes do think like that. Yeah, it was very good though. I'm sure it looks great. So could you just tell us the role or roles you have as a pharmacist kind of in a job title?  

00:18:18:01 [Speaker 2]: All right. Okay. Um, well my, my role can be, uh, numerous many. It can be as simple as some of the patient coming in, looking for a prescription and, uh, having a, been dispensed and check by myself or if they come in to buy something and I can help them out with whatever the medication is and if it's suitable for them, for example, if they're taking out the tablets medication, how long they've had the symptoms for, or it could be something a little bit more trickier, for example, dispensing methadone, misuses, we've got a machine and a computer 

00:18:51:06 to help me with that. Um, sometimes it can be a bit more technical, like for example, seeing a patient, uh, on methadone, for example, and, um, prescribing to them or adjusting their dose. Um, sometimes it would be, uh, doing a simple vaccination for example, of flu vaccination, which would be numerous hundreds and, and the flu season, or we could do travel vaccines for temporal hepatitis B, um, or something, a little more technical KV COVID vaccination, which we have to draw out the vaccine and administer, 

00:19:21:15 um, sometime. Um, and we can do other things, for example, we can do hormonal contraception for, um, under 20 twos, um, do something for, um, environmental health, um, like a needle exchange. Um, so yeah, there's numerous roles. I mean, if I can think of a few more off the top of my head, um, it can be something simple, like for a child who's got a rash. 

00:19:49:13 Um, we can have, um, patients who can't get hold of a particular product or they need to get hold of something. Uh, so simple as simple advice with, regarding a calf or we'd be able to provide, um, natural flow tests now in the pharmacy, which, I mean, basically it's making sure that people are, they don't have any symptoms, which is ideal. So we want to keep testing people. So if they're to confirm that they're not being not positive, because of course one in three patients don't have any symptoms. So we can 

00:20:18:17 provide something as simple, as simple as giving it a test out to explain to the patients how they use it, which, um, so yeah, so that's, um, part of what I do, uh,  

00:20:31:03 [Speaker 2]: That's something too, that last week that stuck with me, get one of those accessible. Yeah. That's that's yeah, we do make it a medicine accessible. So we are, if you like, um, we're the person that you can still walk in off the street and then you have a query you don't need to, you don't need an appointment. Um, 

00:21:02:24 you just want to come and speak. Sometimes I have patients who just want to come in, they would come and talk to me. It doesn't necessarily mean that anything, maybe any might move on to being something important. For example, they might be, have a cold and itch a rash. Um, and although we're in a instill slightly limited times, people still can just walk into the pharmacy and they can come and see us whenever they can. Um, and that's the beauty of pharmacy and that's what we have over. A lot of other options is 

00:21:36:13 that you can just walk into your pharmacy, plus your high street pharmacy, your village pharmacy. And generally speaking, you can go and ask to speak to the pharmacist. And within a couple of minutes, you can be speaking face-to-face with a pharmacist. Now you can find us. And as we find something in the past year, people will find a small and if want to speak to the pharmacist within 30 seconds, why don't you answer the phone that 

00:22:01:13 quickly? Um, then they can switch the pharmacy. So, so yes, the, the idea that we can, um, make it easy, accessible, see tremendous. That is very true. Um,  

00:22:15:16 [Speaker 2]: It was kind of like little moments that you have with people where you go to something it's like a critical, massive, There's also, there's three different types of, uh, pharmacy. You can go to a university, you can do industrial pharmacy and you can go to hospital, pharmacy, and then there's community pharmacy. And the community pharmacy 

00:22:48:20 bit sometimes is a little bit overlooked, but a lot of pharmacies and there's probably 11,000 pharmacies in, uh, in the country. And the vast majority of them are what I would describe as community pharmacies, as in their people have their pharmacy. They will go and see their pharmacist. And, um, they ha they, they know the pharmacist or sometimes they'll know all the pharmacies or certainly none of the pharmacy. So they may not know 

00:23:16:21 the same pharmacies, but they'll have certainly the same, um, healthcare workers, dispensers who they'll go and speak to. And so it's, it's very much a community. So although judges there, where are they sitting? Uh, it's not a big city, but it's a city. Uh, we do have a community feel. There's still very much a, uh, an environment where the general patients that come in are regulars. So although it's maybe a little dissimilar to 

00:23:47:21 where I was say 20 odd years ago when I worked in a little village, which was, um, there was only one pharmacy that isn't, it, wasn't a very, an awful lot there, apart from the castle and the museum. Um, whereas even, even in a city, such as Chichester, you can still have a community feel very much. So  

00:24:05:03 [Speaker 2]: What, why is that important to you, Um, to have a community feel? Um, I think it's a sense of belonging and I think when you're helping people, I think you'd almost like to, I don't think you want to help everybody, but she wasn't wanting to improve the environment that you work in. So, um, so for example, when you start in the morning, when you walk into, to work in the morning, you'll you'd know that you're helping that community. And when you leave at the end of the day that, you know, you've helped the community as well. So, um, I think 

00:24:36:01 there's parts and part of me, and I think there's part of everyone who always wants to be a part of a community. Uh, I think it's a very human nature. Sorry. Hang on for a bit. So do you have, do you have, um, a pharmacy 

00:25:02:12 cycle? Do you have different roles? Um, what do you mean, do you mean, um, They're doing all these different roles. Could you explain that? Which one is it just here that you're concentrating on? This is your one job. Oh, well, no. I mean, generally speaking, I'm, I'm usually here. I mean, apart from when do you assert the, um, um, I, I see what they mean when they were having, uh, uh, uh, uh, different variety of roles. I mean, a lot 

00:25:36:18 of the roles I have, I generally based here because I'm here Tuesday to Friday, um, say for example, assess, they will go and work in another pharmacy. Um, if you like as a pharmacist and just a farm, I'll say just a pharmacist, but, uh, as a pharmacist, um, whereas here, because I'm also the manager of the pharmacy as fast as you have, she like other roles as well that you need to do. So some, some ways working on a Saturday is it's almost, it's a bit of a bit of a change because I'm going back to being a 

00:26:06:21 GST. Pharmacists will be very careful at saying just the pharmacy. Um, but you, you can concentrate on your, your pharmacist roles, whereas where you can concentrate and speaking to patients, dispensing checking, and what have you. So it's quite, it's quite a straightforward role, whereas if you're, um, when you're here, um, the role is probably my own fault is it's because it's so different varied. Um, there's a lot more different. So it's almost becomes a little bit, the actual pharmacist becomes a little bit 

00:26:37:04 watered down. Um, all right. To ask Laura. So Laura, I haven't had anything through  

00:26:44:05 [Speaker 2]: For the post yet. We haven't. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. No, sorry. what's going on around you as well., That's a great sort of thing. I have to say. One of the, one of the times 

00:27:19:12 I've, I've made a real difference sort of sentence More recently, I'm thinking about going back to different different roles. Um, It's frightened on the Saturdays. I've been doing the COVID vaccines. Now we are doing a lot of younger population there. Um, so usually 45 at woods. And the difference you see in people coming in for the vaccination, usually 

00:27:45:04 in the, the flu season, when people come in, they're so used to coming in, can we get a flu vaccine? I have to go generally very appreciative. The giving people, the COVID vaccine, a something that I've not experienced before, because people, um, I think the best thing, the best way I can describe it is people see it As hope having, uh, having The vaccination. You give them the card after doing it, I've done the vaccination, um, and genuine pleasure that they've had a vaccination and 

00:28:14:24 almost, almost the hope of hopefully habit a future. And hopefully we're going to get out of it. So it it's, in some ways it's, it's probably the most rewarding thing I've done in pharmacy. Um, certainly recently, which is, which is interesting. So that's what I've just been talking about, the, um, the, the pandemic, but I'm doing the code vaccinations. So they've actually been, I don't understand. Well, I don't want to say it's an honor because I feel it's a privilege to do that because giving someone a 

00:28:45:05 vaccination, which again, we do frequently and routinely, but when you give the people the response that they are, they're so pleased, so happy about it. You almost sometimes forget, um, your job you've, you, you sometimes go into autopilot with what your job is, but when you're doing this and you almost like, I don't want to say it as, it sounds a bit cheesy, but injecting hope into someone.  

00:29:10:05 [Speaker 2]: That's almost what it is. And seeing people who, um, are absolutely over the moon and having a vaccination, um, and a lot of them, and we would do it. We do an awful lot of vaccinations and we get an awful lot of happy patients. And it's, it's unusual to have so many happy patients cause January people come into the pharmacy and they're not feeling well, so they're not going to be happy and bubbly. And what have you, which is more than understandable. That's, that's, that's the way the 

00:29:40:07 world people aren't well, people aren't gonna be very happy. They come into your pharmacy to get the COVID vaccination and delighted. Absolutely delighted. And it's it's um, it's, it's, it's, it's Australian one in 30 years. I've not made that many patients happy, not intentionally. Anyway. Um, but yeah, so it's, it's been, uh, that has been, uh, a great, great experience.  

00:30:06:03 [Speaker 1]: Yeah. The way you put it. That's how I felt when I was getting, I need this just for the home.  

00:30:13:04 [Speaker 2]: Uh, and it's, it's, it's just been it's, it's, it's phenomenal. And, and it's, it's almost, um, you must, you must feed off it as well. So it went to the point that I'm very, very keen for us to continue to do them as much as possible and get as many done as possible  

00:30:29:09 [Speaker 1]: When you do it all through the night. Yeah.  

00:30:32:03 [Speaker 2]: I mean, we were desperate to do them, uh, do them here. Unfortunately they wanted us to do a thousand a week, which wasn't, um, turned out to be not feasible. Um, but we studied 400, um, every weekend in Brighton now. So  

00:30:50:05 [Speaker 1]: That's right. Just thinking about how you worked with patients. Are there any kinds of stories you could share about where you kind of helped this particular person?

00:31:07:11 [Speaker 2]: Oh, wow. Um, grief. How can I help patients? Well, um, so I think I have some patients grief. I think we could think of a good story of how we have helped patients. Um, for a little bit on that one. 

00:31:36:00 Okay. Um, I'm one's complaint Now. It's not allowed me to, Uh, okay. Um,  

00:32:02:14 [Speaker 1]: I think pharmacists are able to strike up a quite unique relationship say compared to the doctor or nurse, is there any sort of relationship you've kind of appreciate it happened with patients down the years or anything like that?  

00:32:19:01 [Speaker 2]: Yeah, I mean, I'm one of the, one of the things beautiful things with patients is you can watch them grow and have been here as long as the theme. Uh, you can watch patients grow up. I mean, I've got patients here who, um, we've used to, they used to come and collect or we used to drop off baby milk to them, and now they're off to university. So, um, and you see that with, with the rest of the family as well. So you actually grow up, you go, you meet you, you sort of grow up with them. Um, when you see young couples, you, then you gave, you've delivered their baby 

00:32:50:21 milk, and then they've grown and gone to university and now they've got married and they're having kids of their own. Um, it's, it's almost, it's, you've suddenly realized how old you're getting when, um, patients that you remember as babies are now having babies themselves.  

00:33:07:09 [Speaker 2]: Um, you do you, um, and then of course then, you know, it gets them to know their rest of their family as well. So you, you almost like live through their, their happy times if you like, when you're going through exams, going to different schools, getting into university. And then obviously you lived through their sad at times, for example, when, say, for example, their parents are very well or say, for example, relative passes away. So you almost become, um, like, uh, I don't say necessarily a member of a member of the family, but you must become smarter going back to the community fair again, um, being part of, of their lives, if you like. 

00:33:39:13 Um, but yeah, it's, it's a, um, uh, come into contact with your patients. So sometimes so regularly, so frequently, um, that you get, you get to know them. Um, and some patients we get, so we can see four or five times a week. Um, so you do build a rapport with them. Um, I think that's probably the one that's one pool on the South side of things about the pandemic, is that because the patients were staying at home, um, we weren't seeing them so regularly and, um, some, some of them we've missed. Um, and I'd like to 

00:34:13:10 think that they've missed us as well, because when, sometimes we're at the only contact, um, this has been one of the, uh, the ideal situations with our delivery drivers, um, who were going out to the patients. Um, so there were some times where the only contact that some of the patients were getting, um, so apart from giving us a ring and speaking to us on the phone, sometimes the only contact they were getting was from our, uh, uh, 

00:34:39:05 delivery drivers. Uh, so, uh, been a tough year. Um, yeah, so it's been a interesting time watching people grow up and, um, can I say going from, during their baby milk to getting married and having their own kids,  

00:34:58:08 [Speaker 1]: How how'd you feel like pharmacy has impacted you as a person?  

00:35:04:19 [Speaker 2]: Uh, how pharmacy has impacted me as a person? Uh, it's a, it's, it's an interesting one because I think it's almost taken over my life a little bit. Um, I think, um, I mean, it's, I'd like to say it's, uh, it's not just a job. It's more than a job. Um, although it's Philippine creating a profession, but it's, it's been more that it's, um,  

00:35:29:04 [Speaker 1]: It's, it's always been  

00:35:31:04 [Speaker 2]: Somewhat of aspire to do. I've always wanted to help people. And once you find that in pharmacy that you can help people and you can do it, it almost becomes, uh, something that you want to do all the time, um, to the point that sometimes become quite reluctant not to be at work. Uh, I mean, certainly again, sorry, referring back to the pandemic game B one of the, one of the best things about working was seeing other people and, um, excuse me, um, working on a, I mean, I don't normally work 

00:36:04:22 on a Saturday, but, uh, I've worked at recess day, um, for the past, uh, 15 months. And one of the best things about that is being, seeing other people, uh, seeing, uh, other people you can work with other people you can, uh, help with. Uh, so rather than sitting at home, uh, you bet you can get out of the house. So in some ways, again, I'll go back to the, it's been a very privileged position to be, uh, rather than not being able to go 

00:36:34:11 out, not being able to work. We've been very fortunate in that we have been able to work. And in some ways I'm probably been very fortunate to work as well.  

00:36:45:04 [Speaker 1]: Bobby Ryan, Sam pharmacy has given you your life contributes to society in a way you can see the impact you're having on the community.  

00:37:02:17 [Speaker 2]: Absolutely. I think pharmacy, uh, give, it gives you, gives you the self a, a personal meaning. Um, but I think when you know that what you were doing, uh, when you're working and you're putting good back into the world, uh it's it's, it's, it's one of those things you can be very pleased about. So is when you finish at the end of the day, you know, have you had a good day? Um, so I mean, sometimes you can think even if you had a good day or if you had a bad day, but happy put back good back into the world, or have you tried to put the back in the world, have you tried to make people better? And I think with that, I think is you can 

00:37:36:21 certainly be happier in yourself that you've got a, that you've tried your best. Cause I always say to my kids, as long as you've tried your best, we can't ask for any more. Um, but in some order, so she can put some more positive back into the world, then the negative, then, then it's been a good day.  

00:37:54:10 [Speaker 1]: I think that surprised you in how you changed as a person for your career in pharmacy.  

00:38:02:09 [Speaker 2]: Yes. I think I've become probably more of a confident person. Um, I always think, I always thought I was a little bit of a, I don't know if I've always been, I think sometimes she can be quiet in certain circumstances. I think if you're, uh, in, uh, an environment that you're comfortable in, you're more likely to be more vocal or more outgoing, but if you're in a, an environment you're not so comfortable with, um, it can sometimes be a challenging environment or, uh, and I think what pharmacy has done is pushed me too out of my comfort zones. So if I 

00:38:36:15 didn't think I was going to be able to do what I was able to do, um, did I think 20, 30 years ago I could be being banished my own pharmacy? No, I think I was just going to say, I'll be quite happy to be a pharmacist and that was it.  

00:38:47:17 [Speaker 2]: It wasn't there wasn't, there was no, uh, push, if you like, there was no, I think I was going to coast. I was going to do the easy route, you know, I wasn't going to push myself. Whereas I think now quite well, pharmacy has done, it's given me the confidence to, well, why can't you, do you know, why can't, can you do a bit more, you know, what can you, can you make things better? Can you do a bit more or can you become a pharmacist manager? Can you become a prescriber? Can he do this? Can he do COVID vaccines? Can you, uh, do this wine? You know, why can't 

00:39:18:18 you do this? You know, you can, can you speak in front of the camera? Um, which is all things that if you think about too much, you might think, well, I don't know if I want to do that. It's not gonna, it's not really for me, but so you, you try something, um, yeah, it gives you something it's something to aspire to, um, try and make it. So I think trying to make yourself uncomfortable sometimes is a good thing. I don't mean, uh, sports, uh, where you go to, uh, where you have to 

00:39:48:16 hire for in like, after sailing. So don't think I'm going to bet or bungee jumping. I think that's probably a little bit too little too far, but I think trying to make yourself uncomfortable, sometimes it's probably a good thing and it sort of pushes, um, I think it's pushy as humans as a, as a whole, if you can make yourself a little bit more uncomfortable, then you can only get better.  

00:40:06:24 [Speaker 1]: Yeah. Yeah. That's good advice for anyone. The last question I have for you is if there is somebody say they're on Google now. Sure. If they want to be a pharmacist or something else, what would you say to convince them  

00:40:23:15 [Speaker 2]: One to be far? How would I convince someone who wants to be a pharmacist by looking on Google, without looking on Google or looking on Google? Um, I won't say it's a list of things. What do you want to do with your career? Do you want to help people? Um, do you want to work with like-minded people? Um, do you want to make your environment and your community better? Um, do you want to push yourself to, uh, to your limits? Um, do you want to continually learn, do you want to keep finding different 

00:40:55:00 roles? Do you want to find a different jobs? Um, excuse me. Um, do you want to, um, continually progress in life, um, and you want to develop in life, um, and then pharmacies for you. Um, you can learn an awful lot. You can do that. You can learn so much and you can develop your skills and you can do all sorts of things that you never imagined you can do. And you think what we're doing now? What are we, I mean, 30 years ago, 

00:41:25:11 could you see pharmacies doing injections in a pharmacy? I mean, grief, I mean, even a year or so ago, could you have seen pharmacies COVID vaccines in a pharmacy properly now I'm going back five, 10 years ago, I suppose, longer may of 15 years ago. Could you see a pharmacist prescribing in the pharmacy? Um, I mean, there were some times pipe dreams. Um, so it mentioned what you can do now. And it's one of those things that you can aspire to be. I mean, this is just community pharmacy. I mean, there's all 

00:41:54:07 sorts of, and you're going to hospital, you can go new industry. Um, there's all different roles in pharmacy. You can go down. Um, the really the, the world is, is, is there it's, it's it's you can take it and pharmacy can help you do that as well.  

00:42:10:23 [Speaker 1]: Hi, just kind of straight to start and take you into that a little bit and just sign out. So, but I wondered, is there anything you want to say that we don't, you don't feel like we've covered already? Um, I think for me, pharmacy is been a wonderful, wonderful experience for me and I I'm sure I'm not the only pharmacist who feels this way. And I think when you can have a job and a career that I'm know, I still like to 

00:42:45:09 think I'm quite young, uh, that for 30 years has given me this mountain to pleasure. I think that is really what work should be. And I think if you can go to work with a smile on your face and finish work at seven o'clock in the evening, and you still got a smile on your face. And then I think then, then that second, I think that's the profession that you should be proud of doing, and certainly certainly worth going into as well.