Chemist leaves after nine Raetihi years

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 570, 24 January 1995, Page 4

Chemist leaves after nine Raetihi years

Raetihi's pharmacy staff are in for a change of chemistry with the departure of pharmacist Lynette Price last week. Mrs Price is moving with her family to Palmerston North and shehas appointed Sarah Deighton as manager. Lynette will do locum work in Palmerston North which will allow her more time to spend with her children, she said.

She ends nine years' running the pharmacy, but says she will be back on occasions. Lynette wished to thank everybody for their support during the past nine years and said she hoped people would continue to support Sarah and the staff. "I'm delighted to have Sarah coming in to take on the pharmacy and gi ving me the opportunity to make thi s move," she said. She said she has seen many changes in her nine

years. In her work there has been the introduction of prescription charges and many changes to the regulations, plus their own work to modernise the shop. "The regulations changes mean a lot more work for the pharmacist and make things a lot more confusing for the public," she said. Thechargingsystemwas very complicated and even just trying to explain it to people took up a lot of their time — "time at the counter and time with paper work". She said there had been a lot of changes in the town, bad things such as losing the banks and post office, but good things too. "People are a lot more positive now. The town is still quite stable, we've ridden out quite a few changes and survived." Lynette said she would like to thank her staff for their support over the years.

She said it was good knowing they would do a good job looking after the people of the area. "I'm leaving the shop in very capable hands," she said. Sarah Deighton left Foxton, where she was one of the chemists in a large pharmacy, to take up her new job. She said Raetihi is a similar place to Foxton in many ways, including size. Before her three years at Foxton she spent two years

in London doing locum work — a great way to experience the city. But some of the pharmacies were "unappealing". "Britain is the opposite to New Zealand with much fewer regulations. Anyone can set up a pharmacy so the controls are not there. They are not all bad though!" Before London she trained at the Central Institute of Technology in Wellington then worked for a year at her father's chemist shop in Gisborne. Her husband, a shepherd, was living and working in Taihape and has now moved to Raetihi. "So now we can give up all that tearing around in cars." "I sincerely hope I can give people the same service that they have come to rely on Lynette for," she concluded.