All eyes and ears were focused on Health Minister Greg Hunt as he announced ‘The Guild Pharmacy of the Year’ for 2019.
And, when Flannery’s Pharmacy from Forbes NSW were revealed as the overall winners their absolute delight was a joy to see.
Partner Michael Flannery said “when we won the business management award, we felt pretty good about it as that’s a great honour in itself. If we didn’t go any further, it would still be fantastic.
“But our passion is around people, community and professional services so we held on to the hope that being good across all elements would help us win the big one – and we did!”
An example of Flannery’s Pharmacy’s passion for people and community can be seen in their innovative community room.
Michael’s partner Sarah Hazell said “the community room is an idea that developed when I noticed a need for us in our community. There’s a lot of families that live a long way out of town and they may have to travel up to an hour. They have little babies and children and there’s nowhere in Forbes for them to comfortably care for their babies when they are in town.
“The idea was that we provide that comfortable area for them and they can get a little bit of health advice when they are there. It’s an idea that has been really well received by the community. ”
Talking about his journey into pharmacy Mr Flannery said his dad was a pharmacist in Forbes and he had two uncles who were pharmacists too.
“I grew up in a family of pharmacists and started my career as a messenger boy for my dad,” he said. “Like all good career pathways, I ended up as a pharmacist in Forbes. The pharmacy has been in a family for over 67 years now.”
And, so it’s been a great honour for me to receive this award from not only the family connection but also for the community because the community been a big part of my life and the pharmacies life for many many years.”
Retail Pharmacy Magazine asked Ms Hazell to share a little about her own journey into pharmacy.
“I’m a Forbes girl, I grew up in Forbes, and in 1998 I went to Wagga to study at uni,” she said. “I went to see Michael and told him I was studying pharmacy and Michael actually offered me a scholarship to attend university. Then, when I graduated, I came back to Forbes and Flannery’s Pharmacy.
“It’s just a wonderful pharmacy to work at as a pharmacist and it’s also full of great learning opportunities, so I stayed here and became a partner in 2007.
“Flannery’s Pharmacy has been my only job. I haven’t had any other job.”
In thanking the Guild for the award, Mr Flannery spoke of his great respect for Ms Hazell.
“You’ve all met with Sarah today and can see she is a great role model for pharmacy, pharmacy ownership and for women’s pharmacy.” He said
She has three boys age 10 and under, a husband with a growing accountancy business in Forbes, she is on local committees, has the usual community engagement roles, and she balances all this while still bringing the passion you’ve all seen as well as the leadership she offers at a store level.
“This win for me is not only great because of the family connection but it’s also a personal thing because Sarah is such a great role model for pharmacy, and she has been for years.”
Retail Pharmacy Magazine congratulate Flannery’s Pharmacy and look forward to hearing more about their remarkable and inspiring journey.
