OUYEN Pharmacy has been highly commended at the industry Pharmacy of the Year awards.
Early career pharmacists Alexander Look and Nicholas Wong were recognised by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia for their efforts to reinvigorate the town’s pharmacy since buying it in 2021.
Mr Look said he’s proud of his team.
“We absolutely love our job, we love providing health care to our patients and this is the icing on top,” Mr Look said.
“The high commendation award was based upon the spirit of what we’re trying to achieve with the pharmacy.”
Mr Look explained that when he and Nicholas took over the business two years ago, there was a focus on giftware and retail items.
The pair pivoted the business to become more of a health destination.
“Ouyen is not serviced by a full-time doctor, and it’s entirely based on locum and temporary doctors that come into the community,” Mr Look said.
“We identified a big opportunity for us to not only grow our business and be financially sustainable and profitable, but also to assist the community in filling gaps in services that are not currently being filled.”
The pharmacy now provides vaccination services for the Ouyen community, alongside medication reviews, opiate or addiction therapy services, sleep apnoea services and direct services to the nursing home.
“These things were previously not done at all, or if so, were provided by pharmacies over 100 kilometres away,” Mr Look said.
Other allied health services also recently partnered with the pharmacy to increase convenience for locals.
There was now on-site pathology collection five days a week, a weekly visiting chiropractor, monthly heart health checks by a visiting community paramedic and nurse practitioner services, including skin checks and diabetes education.
“We’re really trying to become a real health hub and a destination where people can get a lot of their health services all in one convenient spot,” Mr Look said.
