Beyond Pain founder Angelo Ratnachandra and Nicolette Ellis MPS[/caption]
Krysti-Lee Rigby MPS demonstrates the ViDe telehealth technology[/caption]
Kangaroo Island fires. Photos courtesy Kerry Tyley[/caption]
Already one-third devastated by fires including major tourism infrastructure, Australia’s third largest island benefited from rain on Friday, but residents remain on guard with higher temperatures predicted later this week.
The pharmacist-in-charge at Kildea Pharmacy in Kingscote, Patrick Tiong MPS, told Australian Pharmacist that community members had rallied in support of one another.
Last week, tourists and locals alike, during the busiest period of the year, were evacuated to the mainland. Mr Tiong needed to make emergency deliveries, including supplying asthma inhalers to the local hospital, and dispense after-hours to evacuees. Some medicines were provided without prescriptions.
‘We often have to rely on the goodwill of and to trust patients during tough times and hope to be paid later,’ Mr Tiong said.
Emergency dispensing rulings should rectify this situation.
After the devastating effect of the fires on wildlife and livestock, pharmacy staff and the community rallied to provide necessities for local fauna including dressings and saline irrigations with donations of expired stock and via a community account paid for by the pharmacy staff and community. Personal care products were given to people in need, and discounts on certain over-the-counter (OTC) medicines offered.
Mr Tiong was thankful that Nick Panayiaris, the Pharmacy Guild’s SA Branch President, established a local bushfire relief appeal.
Kildea Pharmacy had procedures in place to respond to bushfires but they didn’t need to be activated. Power was not lost and data backups were in ‘cloud-storage’.
It's been an emotional time for many in the profession, including Mr Tiong, but, ‘as pharmacists, we have an obligation … to act in the patient’s best interest and ensure continuity of care and supply’. A good relationship with the local hospital and doctors also helps.
Photo: Sean McGowan[/caption]
Helen Feng, owner of the Alliance Pharmacy in Tallangatta, VIC, with members of the local Country Fire Authority crew. Photo: supplied.[/caption]
With eight affected pharmacies in NSW and Victoria, the Pharmacy Alliance has set up a bushfire appeal which aims to raise $250,000 to provide free medication and personal care items to affected communities. The alliance wants industry partners, member-owners and their customers to donate via the Alliance Pharmacy Bushfire Appeal on 
HMAS Adelaide leaves Eden Harbour this week as fire threat abates. Photo credit: Eden Pharmacy[/caption]
An addendum to PSA’s 
Kay Dunkley MPS[/caption]
This includes her involvement with the PSS and her help in establishing the AMA Victoria Peer Support Service in 2008. She has also travelled extensively in Australia and the United Kingdom promoting the welfare of pharmacists and pharmacy students.
Ms Dunkley said a highlight of her work was ‘being able to make a difference to the lives of those we care for as pharmacists’.
‘PSS is about caring for each other within the pharmacy profession to ensure that as a profession we can care for the Australian community,’ she said.
‘I really value the generosity of the PSS volunteers in giving their time and energy to be there for their colleagues in times of stress.’
The inaugural Victorian Early Career Pharmacist (ECP) of the Year title was won by Amanda Cross MPS. A postdoctoral research fellow at the Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Cabrini Institute, Dr Cross has already gained a high level of expertise in research and clinical practice and is an exemplary role model for other ECPs. She is also an Australian Pharmacist columnist.
[caption id="attachment_8791" align="alignright" width="219"]
Amanda Cross MPS[/caption]
Her PhD, awarded this year just months before giving birth to her second child, focused on the prevalence and impact of potentially inappropriate medication use in older people with cognitive impairment, which has implications for medicine safety in Australia.
Dr Cross said she chose to do a PhD to try and make a difference on a larger scale.
‘I would frequently see patients struggling with medicine adherence and commonly using inappropriate medicines,’ she said.
‘Medicine safety is important to me because as a pharmacist it is my responsibility to ensure people are taking the right medicines, at the right dose, for the right duration to ensure the medicine is creating more benefit than harm.’
[caption id="attachment_8782" align="alignright" width="219"]
Roslyn Stewart MPS[/caption]
The Victorian Pharmacist Medal was awarded to Roslyn Stewart MPS, in recognition of her wide-ranging, 40-year career which included time at the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital during the AIDS epidemic and as a senior pharmacist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital before 20 years in community pharmacy.
She has also conducted medicines reviews in aged care facilities and the community, and does volunteer work as a Mental Health First Aid Instructor.
Reflecting on her career, Ms Stewart said being a pharmacist offered a wealth of options.
‘I have taken advantage of this, working in research, hospital and community pharmacy,’ she said.
‘I have enjoyed each new challenge. Few careers provide this type of flexibility.’
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