Pharmacy staff go the extra mile to ensure medicines reach those who need them

Cyclone Gabrielle has created havoc with transport routes in the most-affected areas, but pharmacy staff have gone the extra mile to ensure medicines get through.

Wairoa, Hastings and Napier have had massive transport issues after floods and landslips, but Unichem Waipukurau Pharmacy employee Andrea Manning has been one who provided the workaround for pharmaceutical supplies.

Mrs Manning, with husband Dallas, runs a franchise of trucking company Toll. The couple took a load of medicines to pharmacies in Hawke’s Bay after floods hit a Napier NZ Couriers building that is usually a medicines hub.

Last Friday, they drove to Palmerston North and picked up medicines from ProPharma, loading them onto a high-sided, water-proof trailer, supplied free by Toll. They took them to pharmacies in Waipukurau and Waipawa and to the helipad at Hastings Hospital to be taken to Wairoa, Hastings and Napier.

Loading the medicines for Wairoa took an hour, delaying them, so their son, who is a builder, and his partner used their own car to deliver medicines in Hastings.

“They are heroes in my eyes"

Mrs Manning says what she and her family did is “not a big deal”. They wanted to help because many people, for example those who take insulin, really need their medicines. “How could you not [help]?” she asks.

“We did get some pretty cool responses” from the pharmacies she says. “It was more beneficial for us– you can’t help but feel good.”

One of the pharmacies had been left with nothing and staff said the couple were “just legends”.

They didn’t have any trouble getting into Napier that day, despite the damage to the bridge on State Highway 51 that later led to restrictions on who could cross. Once in the city, Mrs Manning says it was strange driving around with no traffic lights on due to the power supply issues.

The streets were quiet because most people couldn’t go to work. The busiest places were outside pharmacies, which shows the value of the service they provide to the community, says Mrs Manning. They delivered to just three pharmacies, because most had no power.

ProPharma has offered to pay the Mannings for their work but the couple don’t want that. They have suggested the pharmaceutical company makes a flood relief donation.

Glenns Pharmacy in Taradale, Napier had trouble transporting essential medicines out of the town because of red tape.

Owner Rebekah Taylor says one staff member tried to take important mental health and resthome residents’ medicines for Waipukurau and Hastings on Thursday but was turned away at the SH51 bridge.

She was carrying a letter from a manager at Te Whatu Ora Te Matau a Māui Hawke’s Bay, but it was only once she had a letter from Fire and Emergency NZ that she finally got over the bridge at night.

Mrs Taylor says her three drivers who deliver medicines also had problems getting petrol, even though she chose one gas station and gave it a list of her drivers. She says they were told off for not using petrol efficiently enough, despite the fact they had to deliver to 400 people last week.

“Pharmacy is always a low priority. We are expected to do priority jobs but are not recognised as a priority,” she says.

However, she says the community has helped immensely. When the power was off, the pharmacy couldn’t get a generator from Te Whatu Ora but was loaned one by a member of the public.

Customers brought in their lawnmower petrol from home to fuel it. One pilot used his day off to fly medicines around. Two couples who do deliveries met at the bridge into Wairoa to swap medicines. They maintained deliveries even though had no way of communicating.

“They are heroes in my eyes,” says Mrs Taylor.

At the pharmacy a “Chill and Charge Hub” has been set up with beanbags, where people can charge their devices, chat to someone or even nap. They can also pick up a food parcel, donated by Centennial Hall and packaged and delivered by the church Grace Napier.

Unichem Waipukurau Pharmacy pharmacist and owner Charles Nairn says his father brought a load of pharmaceuticals last Wednesday from Palmerston North for his pharmacy and Waipawa Pharmacy.

Mr Nairn says his pharmacy is in a “helluva lot better” position than vast chunks of the Hawke’s Bay because they haven’t lost power at any point. The local council organised a portable toilet for the pharmacy. His workers, luckily, have had no trouble getting to work.

Staff have had to use bottled water sold in the pharmacy when making up some antibiotics.

“My heart goes out to colleagues in Napier who have been putting up with bureaucratic crap to get gas for generators, and whose employees have been turned back at the bridge,” he says.

Medical workers are recognised as essential, but pharmacy workers don’t seem to be, says Mr Nairn.

“The people who supply the medicines need to be up and running too,” he says.

Mr Nairn says some displaced people have come into the pharmacy, mainly because they got stuck in Waipukurau after the cyclone. Some have been stressed and worried about their property or family. One man heard his woolshed was destroyed but was relieved to hear from his neighbour that his family was okay.