Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

World Pharmacists Day: More than just pill counters

By Sue Emeny
Hawkes Bay Today·
24 Sep, 2019 06:11 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Pharmacist Cindy Wang and Wards Pharmacy owner Tom Ward in the busy Dannevirke dispensary. Photo / Sue Emeny

Pharmacist Cindy Wang and Wards Pharmacy owner Tom Ward in the busy Dannevirke dispensary. Photo / Sue Emeny

Today is World Pharmacists Day, which celebrates the contribution pharmacists make to healthcare around the world.

To celebrate, Dannevirke pharmacist Cindy Wang shares what she loves about the profession, common misconceptions about pharmacists and how she sees the role of pharmacists changing in the future.

Cindy hopes that in future there'll be an opportunity to talk to a pharmacist about your medications wherever you are; whether you're at your local GP, hospital, retirement home, or even in your own home.

Asked why she became a pharmacist, Wang said she had always been interested in medications and it's one of those jobs that you get to do a little bit of everything.

"You get to deal with the patients, doctors and nurses in the community and hospitals, and you get to help people."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She said the best thing about being a pharmacist was that every day at work was different.

"You get to help different people with different health problems. Every day is exciting because you don't know who is going to come in the door and what they are going to need."

She said among the most common misconceptions when it comes to pharmacists was that a lot of people think that all they do is dispense medications.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"People think they hand in a script, we put pills in a bottle, slap a label on it and that's all we do. Which is just crazy.

"That's the most simplified version ever. There is so much more we do to make sure that everything is correct and safe for the patients before we hand out their medications."

She said an example of that might be double checking the dosage or calling the doctor if there's an interaction between the medication and another substance that prevents the medication working.

Looking to the role of a pharmacist changing in the future, Wang said she believed pharmacy will eventually be part of every sector of healthcare.

Discover more

Business

What's happening in the Hawke's Bay business world?

23 Sep 06:00 PM

The Hits: Funny feeling about 'my baby's' next stage of life

24 Sep 07:00 PM

Hawke's Bay: Swimming lessons with Bev Mitchell

24 Sep 06:00 PM

Middle NZ: Pukeko thriving after mild winter

24 Sep 08:00 PM

"There'll be a pharmacist working in every General Practice, working with doctors to ensure medications are safe.

"Hopefully in future there'll be an opportunity to talk to a pharmacist about your medications wherever you are; whether you're at your local GP, or hospital, or retirement home, or even in your own home."

Wang has been working at Wards Pharmacy for almost two years. She's a city girl who has moved here from Auckland to specifically work in rural pharmacy.

"I had a rural placement while training. I really enjoy it as you get to know everyone, it's much more personal. In Auckland there might be three pharmacies in one street.

"Everybody has been so friendly and it's good to see the same faces coming in."

She said it was great to be able to supply all a customer's needs from the one place.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Wards Pharmacy owner Tom Ward said Cindy has a wonderful, unflappable personality.

"She's a real asset to the pharmacy."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

19 Jun 10:45 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Air NZ plane lands safely after mid-air maintenance alert

19 Jun 09:14 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

'Living expressions': Pou returned to Hastings Civic Square after restoration

19 Jun 09:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

19 Jun 10:45 PM

One person was taken into custody at the scene.

Air NZ plane lands safely after mid-air maintenance alert

Air NZ plane lands safely after mid-air maintenance alert

19 Jun 09:14 PM
'Living expressions': Pou returned to Hastings Civic Square after restoration

'Living expressions': Pou returned to Hastings Civic Square after restoration

19 Jun 09:00 PM
Our top Premium stories this year: Special offer for Herald, Viva, Listener

Our top Premium stories this year: Special offer for Herald, Viva, Listener

19 Jun 08:11 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP