New pharmacy opened for all

THE ribbon was cut on Rokewood’s new pharmacy after years of development.

About 50 people gathered at the front of the service’s 55 Ferrars Street location to celebrate the launch of the new service.

Located at the Rokewood Community Health Centre, the new HealthEZ Pharmacy was officially unveiled as part of an open day on Tuesday morning.

An initiative between Hesse Rural Health and Trident Pharma, the former’s director of community services Sue Ryan said the new pharmacy is part of bringing better overarching health services to the region.

“We’re looking at creating a community hub atmosphere in Hesse, a one-stop-shop for people to come and have their health needs seen in a holistic manner,” she said.

“Where often seeing small rural services taken away from townships, so this is a fabulous example where we’ve been able to value-add to an existing service and provide new services.”

The event included a barbecue, and tour of the heath service’s facilities, as well as the chance to meet the Hesse Rural Health team.

Trident director Somnath Sekaran is leading the pharmacy, and said he’s felt very welcomed by the community following its opening the week prior to the open day.

“There’s been lots of support from the community, people coming in and saying hi and dropping their scripts in as well as over-the-counter stuff,” he said.

“We’ve got a really good range at the moment and we’ll probably continue to stock it based on people’s needs. We’ll be bringing in first aid and we’ll look into doing vaccinations later this year.”

A pharmacy for Rokewood was one of two key requests that community members asked for during consultation undertaken by Hesse Rural Health, with the other being to bring a GP into the region.

Ms Ryan said the team hopes to still achieve that.

The pharmacy is open Tuesdays to Fridays from 10am to 5pm, with plans to operate on Mondays in the future.