Author: CREW

Meet our Pharmacist Manager of the year, Cathy Doan!

Operating out of Star Discount Chemist in Park Holme, Cathy is an exceptional example of what it means to be a pharmacist manager, using her expertise to assist patients and set an example to her co-workers and peers alike.

We wanted to find out a bit more about Cathy:

𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁?

I’ve been with Star Discount Chemist since 2015, so for 7 years now. I started as a second year pharmacy student with Daniel at SDC Marion.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯?

Building relationships with all our lovely regular customers. You follow them along their health journey through the good and bad (healthy and sick) and having their trust for you to handle their medications and give appropriate advice is very rewarding. And of course in between all that, catching up and having a yarn with all your customers like friends.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴)?

Your team is your backbone for you to get to where you want to be. Have like-minded people around you to strive and achieve group and individual goals and be there to support each other.

A big congratulations goes out to Rebecca Galbraith, our awarded Retail Manager of the year!

We asked Rebecca a few questions about her role:

𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗰𝗮, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽?

I have been with the Star Group now for 3 and half years. However been in Pharmacy for 28 years with 26 of those years being a Retail Manager.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲?

I enjoy being in a leadership position where I can help guide our team members new and old to achieve the best possible outcome for the Pharmacy and for our customers.

I love the Pharmacy Industry in general because it is so diverse. I am so proud to be a part of an industry that offers professional services combined with retail.

Pictured: Stan Kontos, Kelly Coyle, accepting on behalf of Rebecca, and Peter Gardiakos

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?

Enjoy your job, do things throughout the year to provide a bit of fun for your team members and your customers.

• Prioritise and delegate is so important.
• Set goals, measure and revise those goals.

Respect that everyone is different, find out what your individual team members strengths are and give them every opportunity to help contribute.

 

A round of applause goes out to Simonne Cameron for winning our annual award for National Support Office employee of the year!

Simonne is our Compliance and Training Manager super star, responsible for the adherence to Star Pharmacy’s policies and procedures, particularly regulatory and ethical standards.

We caught up with Simonne and asked her a few questions!

𝙎𝙞𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙟𝙤𝙗?

“Connecting with people and having a role where I can work alongside the amazing teams at store level”

 

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 – 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙧 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜?

“Take every opportunity that comes your way, don’t be afraid to take on a new challenge and grow yourself. Be resilient and adaptable but enjoy what you do”

The Star Pharmacy Group recently held their 2022 Centre of Excellence Conference and Awards Night at scenic Adelaide Oval. Pharmacists and retail managers from South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales pharmacies reconnected after a number of years apart.

The Friday conference was followed up on the Saturday evening with the Star Pharmacy Group Awards Night. The black-tie affair was a fun night to celebrate the achievement of their peers across a number of awards categories.

Congratulations to the award winners!

● National Support Office Employee of the Year – Simonne Cameron, Compliance & Training
● Preceptor of the Year – Peng Hor, Star Discount Chemist Pasadena
● Pharmacy Assistant of the Year – Cristina Garcia, Star Discount Chemist Aitkenvale
● Intern of the Year – VJ Ang, Star Discount Chemist Kilkenny
● Pharmacy of the Year – Nandita Anand, Sally-Ann Gargan & Team, Star Discount Chemist Banksia Beach
● Retail Manager of the Year – Rebecca Galbraith, Star Discount Chemist Aitkenvale
● Pharmacist Manager of the Year – Cathy Doan, Star Discount Chemist Park Holme

Photo: Sonia Clark and David Clark (outgoing Star Pharmacy Group CEO), Peter Piliouras (Star Pharmacy Group CEO) and Evelyn Piliouras

Photo: Awards Night organising committee members including Aleisha Murphy, Jade Harkness, Peter Gardiakos, Joy Montgomery and Scott Young.

Photo credits: Gainsborough Studio for Star Pharmacy Group Awards Night

The Star Pharmacy Group recently held their 2022 Centre of Excellence conference at scenic Adelaide Oval.
Pharmacists and retail managers from South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales pharmacies reconnected after a number of years apart.

The conference theme ‘Connecting Communities’ focused on how the group fosters deep connections with their patient communities but also the importance of nurturing peer-to-peer relationships.

Executive Director Peter Gardiakos thanked outgoing Chief Executive Officer David Clark for his substantial input over his 3.5 years of service and welcomed incoming Chief Executive Officer Peter Piliouras.

Keynote speakers included Dr Tom Nehmy from Healthy Minds with advice for building resilience in challenging times and prioritising wellbeing to develop a robust psychology. Social entrepreneur Simon Griffiths from Who Gives A Crap then spoke to success and failure, the learning opportunities they present and the important role organisations can play in social change.

The group also welcomed case studies from several of their team members on successful community engagement projects, new health service initiatives and more. Executive Chairman Stan Kontos also spoke with a rousing outline of the ‘Entrepreneurial Formula’.

A marketplace was bustling throughout break periods with attendees able to learn about product ranges from key sponsors including Arrotex, Pharmacor, Johnson & Johnson Pacific, Ego, Nestle, PharmaCare, Reckitt Benckiser and Herbs of Gold.

The Friday conference was followed up on the Saturday evening with the Star Pharmacy Group Awards Night. The black-tie affair was a fun night to celebrate the achievement of their peers across a number of awards categories.

The award winners included:
● National Support Office Employee of the Year – Simonne Cameron, Compliance & Training
● Preceptor of the Year – Peng Hor, Star Discount Chemist Pasadena
● Pharmacy Assistant of the Year – Cristina Garcia, Star Discount Chemist Aitkenvale
● Intern of the Year – VJ Ang, Star Discount Chemist Kilkenny
● Pharmacy of the Year – Nandita Anand, Sally-Ann Gargan & Team, Star Discount Chemist Banksia Beach
● Retail Manager of the Year – Rebecca Galbraith, Star Discount Chemist Aitkenvale
● Pharmacist Manager of the Year – Cathy Doan, Star Discount Chemist Park Holme

Photo credits: Liam Moran for Centre of Excellence conference.

Star Discount Chemist, the banner brand of the Star Pharmacy Group, has launched their latest generation layout at their Arana Hills store.

“This is the first in Queensland with two dedicated Star Health Clinic rooms and a dedicated Natural Health precinct,” says David Clark, outgoing Chief Executive Officer.

“The new layout features a ‘patient focused’ open floor plan which allows the pharmacy team to engage with and assist their patients more easily.”

“Seeing this pharmacy relaunch was a multi-disciplinary team effort. We’re thrilled to see all the hard work of the Arana Hills team with the support of our National Support Office come to fruition.”

Star Discount Chemist Arana Hills Pharmacy Manager, Charlotte Ewer says, “Our customers and team members are really enjoying the new layout, especially our new consult rooms. They bring an extra sense of privacy for our patients and allow us to provide even more services and added professionalism.”

To celebrate the opening the SDC Arana Hills team launched with a one-day storewide sale. The front of shop was teeming with happy customers enjoying discounts, a raffle, delicious cupcakes and free gift bags for the lucky first 50 customers.

To celebrate the opening the SDC Arana Hills team launched with a one-day storewide sale. The front of shop was teeming with happy customers enjoying discounts, a raffle, delicious cupcakes and free gift bags for the lucky first 50 customers.

Pictured in the photo are: Scott Carpenter, General Manager – Retail & Operations, Charlotte Ewer, Pharmacy Manager, Rebecca Rozynski, Retail Manager and Cornelius Prius, Area Manager.