Miller’s Pharmacy will be welcoming Wayne Kneipp to the team alongside intern Caitlyn Farmer.
Peter said, “Wayne is a very experienced pharmacist and has been managing a pharmacy for the last 7 or 8 years. He allows us to have 2 pharmacists here each weekday. He has a wealth of experience.”
The next 6 months will be unchartered territory with the pharmacy dealing with Covid Vaccinations. Miller’s will be a Covid vaccination point and are registered to take part in that program. Once it gets to the initial phase where the GPs and the clinics commence, the healthy part of the population will be vaccinated through pharmacies.
Peter said, “At the moment the government is talking around May. We will need a lot of manpower and Wayne will help with that. We will be operating the pharmacy as normal as well as rolling out the program.”
“The initial phase will go to front line workers and quarantine workers and the second phase will go to first responders and people like us who are health care workers. Those first two phases will be delivered through specialist GP clinics and hopsitals. The Pfizer vaccine has to be stored at minus 70 degrees and has special requirements.”
“Caitlyn is currently an intern and she will spend all of this year being trained and mentored by us. She has graduated from uni but has to spend a year working in a practical setting.”
Caitlyn told the Yass Valley Times that she has received plenty of encouragement to pursue using her ANU science degree.
“Peter was a big pusher and said I would be very good at this and so I ended up doing it plus my grandfather was a pharmacist too so there was already a connection there and I loved doing what I was doing here at Miller’s. My grandfather is quite chuffed,” said Caitlyn.
Wayne, Peter and Peter’s wife Angela, provide approximately 75 years of experience. Peter has been a pharmacist since 1997 and has been working in Yass for the last 17 years. Many of the shop staff are also highly trained and integral to the business. He has watched the townsfolk grow over this time and witnessed toddlers grow into adults and bring their children back to the pharmacy.
He said, “As opposed to a metro Pharmacy you really have an ongoing almost lifetime contact, you become part of people’s lives. In a small community, you see people throughout their lives and that part is very rewarding.”
