The Friendly Island Pharmacy celebrates 20 years of business
To start a business is a daunting challenge; to serve the community is a calling; to do both and see your efforts bloom over the span of two decades is a true achievement. This is just what has been accomplished by staff and management of The Friendly Island Pharmacy.
This coming week, Tuesday to be exact, will mark the 20* anniversary of the opening of the pharmacy that has come to be known as a landmark in the Cole Bay area. The Friendly Island Pharmacy originally opened its doors in the small shopping area just across from Almond Grove Estates and it relocated in August 2005 to the newly built Union Plaza just down the street. The new location allows for more area to showcase the wide variety of personal care products from cosmetics to over the counter medications. In addition, there is room to properly store and work with the large collection of European and American prescription medicines. This new location also offers improved parking facilities that are always a plus for customers.
Of the twenty employees who spend their days making sure customers and clients of the Friendly Island Pharmacy are being well served, a few have been with the company almost from the beginning. The General Manager is Joep Groenendijk, a university-trained pharmacist who credits his fine staff for the great success the business has enjoyed over the years. He is happy to point out that The Friendly Island Pharmacy and its sister store The Simpson Bay Pharmacy have won both first and second in The Daily Herald's Best of list for the last two years.
One of the key members of Groenendijk's staff is the very pleasant and professional pharmacist Ruby Dunker. She also attended university in Holland and earned full certification as a pharmacist, a feat that includes seven years of university. Dunker is responsible for making sure that all medications are properly administered, that there are no incompatibilities between medications, and no duplications of the same medication under two different names. "We strongly advise people to stick to one doctor," she shared. "When they jump around to several doctors, these complications can occur." She also has the challenge of organizing all the daily medications for the almost seventy residents of communicated by fax and flown over by Winair. When performing all these services, the pharmacists focus on the importance of what they are doing. "We make it easy for them to take care of the patients," Ruby stated as she nodded and smiled, "I like my job." boss, and say that the work is rewarding, and the environment there is pleasant and "never boring."
Both Friendly Island and Simpson Bay pharmacies operate in conformity with the requirements of The Food and Drug Administration (a United States regulatory agency), as well as the laws and regulations of the Netherlands Antilles. They place a high priority in ordering enough products to keep up with the varied demands of residents and tourists alike.
The added stress of ensuring that all medications that are on the shelves are within their expiration dates is considerable, especially when shipping is quite complicated and involved. The effort, however difficult, is well worth it to people behind The Friendly Island Pharmacy banner. Their goal, throughout the past twenty years and into the next twenty, is to help people maintain good health and the St. Maarten Home. She checks and double checks the pills for each person's individual requirements and places them in "blister packs" so the nurses can provide the patients what they need with minimal confusion. She has been doing this on a daily and weekly basis for several years now.
It takes a special kind of person to do that. At the Simpson Bay Pharmacy a similar process is done for the White and Yellow Cross and the Sister Basilia Centre. In addition, the pharmacy also supplies the hospital in Saba with all its pharmaceutical needs, which are The pharmacists are given invaluable assistance by trained employees who have earned the title of Pharmacy Assistants. Patricia Brown, from Curacao, has been with Friendly Island Pharmacy for almost 14 years, while Astrid Wesselman, from Holland, has been with the company an amazing 17 years. At the cashier post is Virginia Carty, a native of Dominica who has been at the pharmacy for "almost 20 years!" She said she hopes to work there for another 20 years. While the employees all believe that The Friendly Island Pharmacy is a great place to work, they praise Joep Groenendijk as a great live a quality of life that is second to nowhere else on the planet.
