Saturday June 3rd’s grand opening was a celebration for UFS Pharmacies’ members, staff and the local Maiden Gully community to come together and see what all the fuss was about, and they weren’t disappointed!
Local school children sang, families enjoyed the free jumping castle, face painting, sausage sizzle and the visiting Maiden Gully fire truck, while staff were on hand to meet locals, hand out lucky door prizes and some great discounts too.
Our CEO, Mr Michael Fleming, hailed the day a great success and a welcome change from the many months of hard work and organisation that went into the move, and he is confident that the new premises will more than meet the needs of the growing Maiden Gully population for many years to come.
‘The new store is so much lighter, brighter and bigger, with a consulting room, waiting area with chairs and a colouring-in station for the kids’, Mr Fleming said.
– Megan Kowalski
We spoke to our Maiden Gully team, David Tadross (pharmacy manager and pharmacist), Megan Kowalski (retail coordinator) and Lucy Kingdon (trainee pharmacy assistant) about the new store and working in the Maiden Gully community.
‘I have been working as a full-time pharmacist with UFS Pharmacies for more than 10 years and I love it. As the regular pharmacist, I enjoy looking after all our customers and making sure their expectations are exceeded. It is very rewarding when you make a difference to someone else’s life by helping them to achieve better health outcomes.
Being the pharmacy manager gives me a mix of other admin responsibilities that I carry out daily in addition to my regular work as a pharmacist’.
When asked what members might be surprised to know about UFS Pharmacies Maiden Gully, David replied:
‘We offer Flu and Whooping cough vaccines for adults 18 years or over. No need for scripts. We also have extended our working hours (8:30am till 6:00pm weekdays and 8:30am till 1:00pm on Saturdays)’.
When David isn’t working, his go-to is photography and photo-editing, and his superpower is being ‘Mr Fixit’!
‘I fix many things not working e.g.: TV, washing machine, computer, dishwasher, sliding door, broken hinge, fridge, etc’.
We’re hoping we won’t need David’s hidden talents in our new store for quite some time yet.
‘I did all my Pharmacy Training at the old store not long after it opened when Sugumar and Susan were the Pharmacy Managers. I’m excited to be back to see all the familiar faces and to meet many new customers.’
We asked Megan what members might be interested to know about her:
‘I have been nominated for Pharmacy Assistant of the Year 2017 and have made the finals which will take place in Melbourne in September.
Hopefully I can make it through to the next round and represent UFS Pharmacies at the National Pharmacy Assistant Conference held in Queensland in October’.
We’re all crossing our fingers for Megan – a well-deserved nomination!
‘My superpower is memorising numbers and the ability to always carry in all the shopping from the car in one load.’
‘I enjoy learning something new every day, having a new challenge and getting to know our customers.’
We asked Lucy what was special about UFS Pharmacies:
‘We are not-for-profit, so we’re all about the community, and we do home deliveries too’.
When Lucy’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends.
Drop in and say ‘hi’ some time!
