Pharmacist Lewis Pounentis always knew he wanted to be a chemist, but had no idea why.
At the end of the day you run a business and you want it to be successful financially but you need to balance having a successful business and also providing a community based need.
With a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of South Australia, Pounentis bought his first pharmacy in 1997 in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, which he ran for about nine years.
He purchased his current business, Payneham Road Chemplus Compounding Pharmacy, in 2006 in Adelaide’s inner north eastern suburbs, and with pharmacy registration nationalised from July 1 this year, Pounentis is now a recognised pharmacist in every state of Australia.
Pharmaceuticals are definitely growing as an industry, Pounentis says.
“With chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, people are getting diagnosed a lot younger these days.
“They’re more self aware and more health savvy, so people are probably being prescribed medications from their GP at a younger age or they’re self medicating at a younger age as well,” he said.
Every five years the Pharmacy Guild and the Government compile a Guild Government agreement, Pounentis said.
“With the one that was just signed off last year the emphasis is on pharmacists to be a bigger part of the entire healthcare role; they’re wanting pharmacies to be involved in total healthcare plans for patients,” he said.
“It’s made pharmacy a pretty important part of the whole healthcare chain; we’re recognised as a first port of call.”
Pounentis is also a diabetes educator, after completing a post-grad course last year.
“Now my role as a pharmacist is also to help patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes to make sure they’re taking their medications correctly, testing themselves properly, preventing the other complications you have like for people with diabetes as they get older,” he said.
“Pharmacists now have more of a personalised role as opposed to a glorified box labeller, as we were known in the past. There’s more of an important role these days,” he said.
After his nephew was diagnosed with type one diabetes nine years ago, Pounentis became passionate about diabetes care.
Lifestyle is a huge factor in preventing diabetes, Pounentis said, listing risk factors as being overweight, poor eating habits and leading a sedentary lifestyle.
“There’s greater emphasis on prevention and early diagnosis,” he said, adding “for every person in Australia that’s diagnosed with diabetes there’s one out there that hasn’t been diagnosed that actually does have it,” he said.
“What I’m trying to do is formulate a model for the community pharmacy for 2010 and beyond and hopefully it can be seen as a positive,” Pounentis said.
The Adelaidian pharmacist has received personal and industry acknowledgment for his role in individualised healthcare and was last month awarded the South Australian Pharmacist of the year award.
“At the end of the day you run a business and you want it to be successful financially but you need to balance having a successful business and also providing a community based need,” he said.
If you’ve got a successful business that’s great, but Pounentis said providing a solution for a person or just getting a bit of gratitude for what you do is the real reward.
“Knowing you’re able to make a difference for a particular person is pretty rewarding.
“Also, seeing the staff around you tick the same way as you do is great; if you can be a positive influence on the people you work with and have a positive influence on the customers that you serve that’s really rewarding,” he said.