Warren Leonard - Wilkinson & Son Chemists, Dunedin

Dunedin pharmacy owner Warren Leonard’s day starts at about 8.30am during the week, and 9.30-10.30am on weekends. His pharmacy is open seven days a week. This entails the usual duties of any business owner: Opening up the doors, switching on computers and putting the kettle on. Then it’s onto balancing the tills, finishing up the banking, opening up the mail. Next comes the important work - dispensing prescriptions, consulting with patients, giving advice and counselling on scripts.

ALL IN A DAYS WORK
Even when a patient doesn’t have a script to dispense Warren is happy to chat to any one of his patients, especially those that are elderly and infirm. He also assesses regular patients when they come in for scripts or repeats and on occasion spends time with them because it is apparent they are not feeling well. He also spends quite a lot of his time talking to his local GPs and hospital. 
If he’s lucky Warren has lunch around 3pm and the odd cup of coffee - although he has developed a taste for lukewarm coffee as he always seems to be needed when it’s time to take a break. His day is also divided up with seeing company reps, dealing with telephone enquiries, serving in the shop when staff are busy and ordering stock. Then it’s time to lock up the pharmacy, do a bit of the paperwork and head home around 7pm.

EMPATHY AND HONESTY
Warren’s staff generally become part of the family. He has employed a part-time pharmacist for nearly 20 years and a student who works weekends and occasional holidays and has been with him for seven years. Warren looks for empathy and honesty in his staff, as well as an ability to relate to all ages and backgrounds. 
Every day in pharmacy is different. Warren deals with many aspects of primary health - not just prescriptions – and he does consultations daily for minor ailments; provides first aid - especially to the elderly or very young. Most of these services are provided free of charge. He also sees a lot of skin conditions, ranging from spider bites to warts and the usual cold/flu patients, diabetics with associated problems, babies and infants with childhood problems. He has also seen some rather unusual conditions like bone infections and pneumonia. Unfortunately, Warren spends more time than he’d like dealing with bureaucratic issues associated with computer-generated scripts, funding and legal issues. He’d prefer to deal with patients but every job has its frustrations.

PEOPLE ARE THE KEY
Wilkinson & Son has a reputation for excellence. Apart from the range of local patients Warren sees, he has those who come from all over the Otago region to see him. He regards his long term regulars as friends – some of which even have his home and cellphone numbers.  
Without a doubt the best things about working in community pharmacy are the patients, the consultations, and the joy of seeing ill people get better.