BUILDING COMMUNITY, IMPROVING HEALTH
Inside Dungannon’s BCPP
Dungannon pharmacist Paul Donaghy has been working with the Building Community Pharmacy Partnership (BCPP) programme for three years now - a project he says creates lasting change and connections throughout his community.
Paul is one of many pharmacists to work with BCPP, a regional community development programme funded by the Department of Health (DoH) and provided by the Community Development and Health Network (CDHN). As of this year, BCPP has funded over 1,150 projects.
In partnership with The Bridge NI, Paul participates in weekly meetups where members of the community can come together and discuss the health concerns they feel most impacted by. The Bridge NI is a not-for-profit, social enterprise which advocates for “healthier, happier, more engaged citizens and communities regardless of age, gender, religion, or ethnic background”. They achieve this through projects, events and campaigns and provide training, coaching, advice and accessible transport for the community.
Paul said since partnering with The Bridge NI and working with different groups each year, he had seen lasting improvements on the community.
“It is good to see new faces every year. Everybody seems really positive and everyone who attends seems to really enjoy it,” he said.
Building trust
At a time when most patients are facing long waiting lists for treatments or struggling to get appointments with a GP, Paul said it is increasingly important for people to be aware of what services are available at their local pharmacy.
A key part of his partnership with The Bridge NI was to create a laid back and approachable environment for attendees to talk about their health concerns and topics that matter most to them. This helped build trust and allowed attendees to be able to build a local rapport with their local pharmacist.
“Instead of me just talking at them, we try to make it more interactive. So, I would usually suggest a topic and if that inspires any ideas from members of the group, then we open the conversation for them to ask a question or share a story from their own experience,” said Paul.
“It gets to the stage sometimes where the group is talking amongst themselves and that’s where I take a step back and allow them to share their own stories.”
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This approach has also allowed for lasting connections to form outside of the group.
“While there are a mix of ages and some younger people in our group, we work with more of an elderly cohort and a lot of those people have formed friendships they wouldn’t have otherwise, which is great.”
This sense of community and connection is at the heart of BCPP’s work. For over 25 years, the programme has brought together communities and community pharmacies to improve health and wellbeing and address the root causes of health inequalities.
If you would like to find out more about BCPP, you can visit the Community Development and Health Network website at
www.cdhn.org.
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