Natalia Nu'u

I am a community pharmacist in Hillsborough, where I co-own my pharmacy. I am a new member of the Pharmacy Council and a founding member of the Pacific Pharmacists' Association. The real joy of working in a community pharmacy is seeing people regularly, it means you get to chat to them and really get to know them personally. We have three generations of some families that come to our pharmacy, so you become a part of their lives.

There were a number of things that made my time at the University of Auckland a great experience. But, I think most of all, it was the staff at the School of Pharmacy. From the lecturers to the admin staff it always felt like you were all on the same team.

There is still a perception that pharmacists just "count tablets and take your payment.” Pharmacy is a lot more than that. This has become more obvious with the amazing work pharmacists have been doing with the Covid response from vaccinating to conducting rapid antigen testing to now providing Covid-19 treatment. That's a credit to pharmacists who have up-skilled and met the needs of the health system at such a crucial time.

The role of the pharmacist has changed so much since I qualified. There is a greater focus on using our knowledge as medicines experts to educate and communicate with patients. Pharmacists have always been an agile and an easily adaptive workforce, we are able to see change and change with it. Pharmacists are great problem-solvers.

Helping people us the greatest reward of the work I do. In community pharmacy we are the most accessible health professionals. People can just walk into your pharmacy or call you and speak directly to a pharmacist. You really feel like you’ve made a difference in people’s lives and that’s why I love being a pharmacist.  

I really wanted to capture the sense of community, chatter, and charge that Natalia Nu’u described about running a community pharmacy, while also acknowledging her work with the Pacific Pharmacists Association. I was struck by the idea of pharmacies acting as hubs of care and knowledge for their communities. The design communicates those quiet moments when customers and pharmacists step outside to talk and recharge, conveying how that pharmacy is much more than pill counting.