Page 15 - Demo

FEATURE
“I’m learning each day what it means to be an MP, but I know what it means to be a pharmacist.”
Simply listening
Think what you may of politicians and election campaigns, but this job provides a rare insight
into people’s lives. I am often invited into the homes of people I haven’t met, and have countless conversations each day about how people feel Government can or should work to improve their communities. As pharmacists we often see patients in clinical settings, but it’s entirely different when you are in a person’s home, face-to-face, simply listening.
On one occasion, I met a young mother named Michelle. She told me she had just moved to the
area with her four year old daughter, having fled a violent relationship with a previous partner. She was living with her mum, searching for a place to settle after all the recent upheaval. Michelle’s mother told me she was worried about her granddaughter’s development because she hadn’t yet started preschool. Moving so much and living in temporary housing, Michelle had not been in a position to enrol her anywhere. Soon she would be starting primary school, a transition more difficult without the support of early childhood education. Michelle told me she had diabetes, and asked where she could find a doctor in the town who bulk-billed.
I often retell this story because it demonstrates
the social determinants of health. Healthcare does not exist in isolation. How ‘well’ we are cannot be separated from where we are born, where we live, where we grow up. It should never be because of it.
I’m learning each day what it means to be an MP, but I know what it means to be a pharmacist. My friend Elizabeth Frost (a retired Pharmacist and former President of the Pharmacy Board of NSW) believes
a background in pharmacy is excellent training for listening and helping others. I am hopeful that my contribution to the 45th Parliament will advance – in some small way – the health of my community and that of the Australian people generally.
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Australian Pharmacist January 2017 I ©Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Ltd. 13
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