FROM FERRYTO PHARMACY
How lifelong friendships, local roots, and a love of people brought Teressa home to serve her community in Portaferry.
A
t the very tip of the Ards Peninsula, where the ferry crosses Strangford Lough, you’ll find Teressa Ritchie - a pharmacy
dispenser with 22 years’ service and a smile that greets half the town. “We’re busy every day,” she laughs. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Teressa didn’t start in healthcare. After years in a local building firm and then the council, she missed having face-to-face contact in her job.
A chance conversation - and a lifelong friendship with pharmacist Joanne from their school days - brought her home to pharmacy. Back then the team worked from a tiny shop on the square.
Today, they’re in a spacious High Street premises just 100 yards from the GP surgery. The move mirrors the growth of the service: “Years ago we might have done 80 items in a day; now it’s 500 and more.”
24
pharmacyinfocus.co.uk
A typical morning starts with a trip to the surgery for prescriptions - repeated many times as the day races on. Scanning, labelling, dispensing and ordering stock roll into one continuous rhythm. That rhythm pauses for patients who need support through Pharmacy First. “It’s amazing for our community,” Teressa says. “I’d love to see even more added to it - it takes pressure off the doctors and helps people sooner.”
Her favourite task is one many patients never see: preparing weekly pill boxes. “We’ve about 120 patients on them,” she explains. “This is a very process driven, concise, specific task which I enjoy and get such satisfaction when they're stacked up ready for checking. For older people, or anyone with a care package, they’re a lifeline.”
Working in a rural town means bonds run deep. Teressa talks about regulars with real affection - and the quiet moments of crisis that pharmacy
helps to steady. “We’re lucky the doctors and nurses are just across the road. It’s a little ecosystem, all of us looking out for the same people.”
What makes a great dispenser? “A quick mind, attention to detail, and the willingness to check - and recheck,” she says. “You need to be computer- literate, hard-working, and able to decipher the odd bit of handwriting!” Looking ahead, she sees electronic prescribing as a time-saver that would free the team for more patient care.
Outside work, Teressa jives to country music with her husband (“Nashville next year!”), is hands-on with her granddaughter and enjoys gardening with her mum.
Her advice to newcomers is simple and honest: “Be prepared for hard work. Quiet half hours are a gift. But if you love people, you’ll go home at 6pm with real satisfaction!”
BE PREPARED FOR HARD WORK. QUIET HALF HOURS ARE A GIFT. BUT IF YOU LOVE PEOPLE, YOU’LL GO HOME AT 6PM WITH REAL SATISFACTION!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
