Jacquie Meyer - Clinical Pharmacist | Pharmacy Owner | Hospital Pharmacist | Naturopath | Mentor to early career Pharmacists | Mother

Jacquie Meyer is a pharmacist and pharmacy owner who provides a team of pharmacists to her communities to engage in their health and well-being journey. Using robot technology and a forward pharmacy model, Jacquie values the role of the Pharmacist.
 
Breaking the barrier between hospital and community Pharmacy, Jacquie provides a unique environment for Pharmacists to experience both within her LiveLife Cooroy Pharmacy in this Hybrid model. She also has experience and exposure to palliative care through her Cooroy pharmacy.
 
Jacquie is continually learning and is not only a naturopath but also training to become a lactation consultant.

As a former PSA QLD Branch President, Jacquie has had much involvement with advocacy at a state level as well as launching the PSA QLD ECP group to engage at a student level and assist in the development and mentoring of soft skills not taught at University.

Jacquie has been a Preceptor to over 10 Intern Pharmacists, assisted in writing the LiveLife Intern Program and has mentored 3 LiveLife Early Career Pharmacists into their Ownership Pathway in the LiveLife Pharmacy Group.
 
She is passionate about the future of Pharmacy and is always highly engaged with pharmacists to fulfill their career pathways.

Located in the enviable northern region of the Sunshine Coast, Jacquie is a partner in the LiveLife Pharmacy group, which is the largest employer of community pharmacists on the sunny coast.
 
She welcomes any pharmacist to make contact with her to discuss not only partnership opportunities within a trusted and well respected network but to talk about the ever changing landscape of our pharmacy profession.

You can find Jacquie Meyer on LinkedIn.

Do you have questions about your pharmacy career? Then contact us or meet our team.

Transcript

0:01

Welcome to Your Pharmacy Career podcast

0:03

proudly brought to you by Raven's

0:05

Recruitment Australia's leading

0:07

specialist Pharmacy recruitment agency

0:09

the podcast series is being created to

0:11

shine a light on the diverse and

0:13

inspiring careers of Australia's

0:14

pharmacists each episode will focus on

0:17

the varied career opportunities within

0:18

the pharmacy industry by exploring the

0:21

career paths taken by leaders in the

0:22

fields of Community Pharmacy Hospital

0:25

industry government and professional

0:28

organizations careers never follow a

0:30

defined path everyone's story is

0:32

different and unique in their own way

0:34

the podcast series will help you

0:36

discover the world of opportunities that

0:37

exist and reveal Pathways to achieve

0:40

your dreams and aspirations whether you

0:43

are a pharmacy student early career

0:45

pharmacist or simply looking for a

0:47

change at any stage of your career the

0:49

podcast series is designed to help you

0:51

navigate ways into a career and a life

0:53

that you love your host of the podcast

0:55

series is Allie Xu Allie herself a

0:58

pharmacist is now the founder of of

1:00

global Pharmacy entrepreneurs and a

1:02

passionate advocate for pharmacist to

1:03

grow innovate Excel and make a lasting

1:06

impact in the world it's now over to our

1:09

host Ali Su welcome to your Pharmacy

1:12

career podcast I'm your host Ali Sue in

1:15

the spirit of reconciliation Raven's Your

1:18

Pharmacy Career podcast would like to

1:20

acknowledge the traditional custodians

1:22

of Australia and their connections to

1:25

land sea and Community we pay our

1:28

respect to their El ERS past and present

1:31

and extend their respect to all

1:34

Aboriginal tourist State Islander

1:36

peoples today today we're thrilled to

1:39

have Jacquie Meyer an Innovative Pharmacy

1:41

owner and passionate pharmacist who is

1:44

redefining patient care with Cutting

1:46

Edge technology at her live life kooy

1:49

Pharmacy her unique approach Bridges the

1:51

gap between hospital and Community

1:54

pharmacies and she's well known for her

1:56

work in paliative care beyond being a

1:59

pharmacist Jacquie is a naturopath and an

2:03

aspiring lactation consultant she is

2:06

also a committed advocate for the

2:08

profession with significant

2:10

contributions to the PSA Queensland

2:12

early career Pharmacy Group and the live

2:15

life inter program her mentorship has

2:18

shaped the careers of numerous

2:20

pharmacists based in the scenic Sunshine

2:23

Coast Jacquie is a leading figure in the

2:26

LiveLife Pharmacy Group and is always

2:29

open to connect with pharmacists

2:31

interested in Partnership opportunities

2:33

for discussing the evolving Pharmacy

2:36

landscape now let's dive in and welcome

2:40

Jacquie hi Jacquie welcome to Your

2:42

Pharmacy Career podcast I'm so excited

2:44

to have you on the show hi Allie thanks

2:47

for having me congratulations to be one

2:49

of the finalists for the pharmacy of the

2:52

Year yes thank you very much very

2:54

exciting uh yeah an honor to absolutely

2:57

be a finalist and and get this fast So

3:00

yeah thank you can you tell us about

3:01

your education and how did you start

3:04

your journey being a pharmacist until

3:06

now my journey actually started in

3:09

Victoria so I did my degree through

3:11

monach in Melbourne um and Pharmacy

3:14

wasn't uh my first uh Choice believe it

3:17

or not um so I did a science degree

3:19

through Melbourne uni and I thought I

3:21

was going to go into pharmacology

3:23

research at the time that's where I

3:24

thought my path was going to be and then

3:27

during my second year of studies on as

3:29

Pharmacy School contacted me and said

3:31

that they had me on their uh list of

3:33

people that had um considered pharmacy

3:35

at one point and that they had some

3:37

vacancies and was I still interested in

3:40

applying I did um I applied and um when

3:43

I got accepted I still wasn't sure that

3:45

I was going to accept the course but yes

3:48

I ended up deciding to to do that and to

3:50

pursue that career I completed my degree

3:53

at um at MES in the city my true desire

3:56

was always to go rural so I didn't

3:58

really think that my future would be in

4:01

um in the cities and during my student

4:03

placements I traveled in different areas

4:06

of the state um for my regional and

4:08

Rural placements um and one of those

4:11

placements was in third year um was in a

4:13

small town out uh west of Melbourne

4:16

called Ararat so I went and did my

4:18

placement there for 3 weeks I think it

4:20

was um and I just really loved it I

4:22

loved the little town I love the staff

4:25

um the pharmacy owner was there he was

4:27

great and I just really felt a sense of

4:30

community um and a sense of belonging

4:32

with that team so during my placement um

4:35

I was offered my internship um to come

4:37

back at the end of my fourth year uh

4:39

which I did so I went back and did my

4:41

internship with them and I stayed on for

4:44

another year after that at which point I

4:46

did uh PSA diploma of management after

4:48

I'd finished my internship yeah I stayed

4:51

on with that with that owner um he

4:52

really mentored me with a lot of

4:53

business skills um a lot of management

4:55

skills behind the pharmacy business

4:57

perspective then I was was promoted to

5:00

store manager in a a neighboring town

5:03

down in waren bille and I was down there

5:06

for about 2 years um maybe two to three

5:08

years where I was managing a very large

5:10

store very busy was 12h hour a day 7day

5:13

a week um mulle pharmacist we did

5:16

everything you could imagine um so that

5:19

really um you talk about uh sink or swim

5:23

so that was a good challenge for me as

5:24

my first management role um but

5:27

obviously it gave me fantastic exposure

5:29

to All Things uh Pharmacy I had a great

5:32

retail manager with me at the time and

5:34

she taught me a lot about the retail

5:35

component and that I knew that Pharmacy

5:37

ownership was really my my journey so um

5:41

I didn't feel like I was with the right

5:43

group at the time to really support that

5:46

and I'd had conversations with the

5:47

current owners about you know whether

5:49

there was opportunity for that with um

5:52

within their existing structure and

5:54

within their their business and it um it

5:56

was quite obvious that that wasn't going

5:58

to be a a path for me with them so I

6:01

started looking further a field I had

6:04

heard about the live life group in in

6:07

Queensland um and so to me being in

6:10

Victoria going to Queensland was a very

6:12

big decision it was 3,000 kilometers

6:15

away from where I was completely up

6:17

upshifted my whole life but I joined the

6:20

live life group um and I became a

6:23

pharmacist for them in yapon which was

6:25

Central Queensland and I just really

6:29

fell in love with the brand and the

6:31

group and everything that they stood for

6:33

not being a franchise model like some of

6:35

the other traditional Pharmacy groups uh

6:37

the live life is very much a partnership

6:39

model um so there's Partners in all the

6:41

different regions that make up the group

6:44

so it's a it's a bunch of like-minded

6:46

Pharmacists that all come together um so

6:49

it really feels like a little um I guess

6:51

a family in a way um so after my time in

6:54

yapon um I'd cemented myself as part of

6:58

the group and

7:00

um and then partnership was was my next

7:02

step uh and then I was fortunate enough

7:04

to to relocate down to the Sunshine

7:07

Coast I got married there was two

7:09

pharmacies that came up for sale the

7:12

same year I bought the two stores was

7:14

actually the same year that we got

7:16

married so I had a very very busy 2015

7:20

let me tell you so yeah so my two stores

7:22

were kooy and

7:24

Pomona um so I spent a lot of my time in

7:27

the kooy store and then um my husband

7:29

who's also a pharmacist helped out with

7:31

the Pomona store for me um just to sort

7:33

of get it up and up and running off up

7:35

and off the ground the coroy store is

7:38

community centered so taking it from

7:40

where it was to where it is now has

7:42

absolutely been a journey kooy has a

7:45

private Hospital in the town and the

7:48

Private Hospital is too small to be

7:52

fully serviced by its own Pharmacy

7:54

department so it needed to be serviced

7:57

by an offsite Pharmacy so hence that's

8:00

where we come in so we have the the

8:02

Great Joy um in not only providing our

8:05

community with the services of a

8:07

traditional Community Pharmacy but uh we

8:10

also have the hospital that we service

8:12

so um so when I came on board I really

8:15

tried to cement that relationship um and

8:18

really upskill my pharmacists um to be

8:21

able to provide those Hospital services

8:24

but also being based in the Community

8:26

Pharmacy so it's very much a hybrid

8:29

story and it's very much a hybrid role

8:30

that I often refer to it as and it's

8:33

it's very rewarding very rewarding

8:35

clinically um we get great feedback from

8:37

our pharmacists that they love having

8:39

that hospital exposure our pharmacist

8:41

physically leaves the store and goes to

8:43

the hospital each day does the rounds

8:46

does all the things that you would

8:48

expect out of a hospital Department the

8:50

discharges full history with the

8:53

patients it's it's the full service

8:54

model from the hospital perspective um

8:57

it's just that it's done by us as the

8:59

Community Pharmacy so uh so yeah it's

9:02

very very unique in that regard so work

9:05

very hard at trying to upskill our

9:06

pharmacist in in that area me personally

9:10

I also um did a naturopath course um

9:14

within the last few years um I realized

9:16

that Natural Health was an area that

9:18

pharmacists are getting lots of

9:19

questions about quite often we don't

9:22

really have many places to go to look

9:24

for answers to questions um there's not

9:28

always a huge amount of evidence behind

9:29

some of these products um so I felt like

9:33

we had an opportunity to increase my

9:35

knowledge so that at least I could feel

9:38

that I could help our patients with at

9:40

least some information about the

9:42

products that they were asking about so

9:44

um I found that was really rewarding and

9:46

a great sense of being able to help

9:48

people with yeah with the holistic

9:50

approach to their health care and when I

9:52

had my children I had very difficulty

9:55

with um with my pregnancies towards the

9:58

end um which involved a uh very lengthy

10:01

NICU day um especially for my first

10:04

child we were in hospital with her for

10:06

over 3 months um and then my second um

10:09

for one month so I'm now studying to

10:12

become a lactation consultant and adding

10:15

that service into the pharmacy too um as

10:18

my way of giving back to the community

10:21

um and having that personal Journey

10:23

really gives me a heightened sense of

10:25

empathy um for mothers that are going

10:27

through any sort of difficulty with that

10:30

I expressed uh for 3 months by the

10:33

bedside of my 500 G baby that was in the

10:36

niku so I've definitely been through all

10:40

the emotions Associated um and was still

10:43

successfully able to breastfeed um after

10:45

she got discharged three months later so

10:47

um so I really wanted to be able to yeah

10:50

upskill myself and and be confident in

10:53

providing um some support in the

10:55

community for for mothers who

10:57

potentially come home with their babies

10:59

very healthy then have trouble with that

11:01

breastfeeding Journey so I thought that

11:03

this would be a great thing to add into

11:05

our service model um in our Pharmacy

11:07

where we're already providing so many

11:09

different great Services um and just as

11:12

a way to really uh give back to our

11:14

community what are some of the skills or

11:17

learnings that you've gained from this

11:19

journey until

11:21

now um I think one of the biggest things

11:23

that I always try to tell early career

11:26

pharmacists is to make sure that you've

11:28

got a very good Network around you of

11:30

other pharmacists so if you're in an

11:33

environment where you don't feel

11:34

supported then you're in the wrong

11:36

environment um there's a lot of great

11:38

people in pharmacy at the moment that

11:40

are willing to provide these great

11:42

supportive uh environments these great

11:45

supportive pharmacies that are doing

11:46

great things um there's a lot of

11:48

fantastic owners out there um that are

11:50

having very successful um Pharmacy

11:53

models so I think it's a matter of

11:55

aligning yourself with somebody that you

11:57

not only respect but ALS also um look up

12:00

to and someone that's willing to really

12:02

invest their time in in you as a as an

12:05

early career pharmacist um for me that

12:08

was my first um preceptor uh he was

12:12

fantastic at not only teaching me the

12:13

clinical things that I needed to know in

12:15

my internship um but he really listened

12:18

to the fact that I had aspiring business

12:20

goals um and so he he really taught me a

12:24

lot um a lot of things about about the

12:26

business and I really feel that sense of

12:31

having someone put that level of care

12:34

wanting to upskill me as a pharmacist

12:36

and really listen to what I wanted was

12:38

not only very rewarding but it it also

12:40

made me very loyal to him um and and we

12:44

we had a great relationship and and we

12:45

still do to this day he follows my

12:47

career and he chats with me and you know

12:50

I can see that he's he's been following

12:51

my journey as well so you form these

12:54

connections with people and that's what

12:55

pharmacy is all about we have so many

12:57

different Health Services is coming up

13:00

as a pharmacist we feel like we're

13:02

drowning in so many things that we could

13:04

do we don't know where to start how

13:07

should we choose the best path for

13:09

ourselves where there's so many options

13:11

now yeah that's a that's a great

13:14

question I think when you look at the

13:15

full scope agenda that's coming and you

13:17

look at the 25 different condition

13:19

modules that are coming and you think oh

13:21

my goodness I'm I'm going to have to do

13:23

all these consults on top of all of my

13:25

all of my other um daily chores I think

13:28

yeah I I agree it can be very daunting

13:30

um but again that's where you need to

13:32

align yourself with people that are

13:34

Forward Thinking so you need to align

13:36

yourselves with pharmacies that are

13:38

already thinking about this and that

13:40

have changed their business models ready

13:42

to embrace it um I think this is going

13:44

to be a big test of time for that and

13:47

it's really going to Showcase um the

13:50

pharmacies that are ready and those

13:52

Pharmacy owners out there that are are

13:54

ready and willing to embrace it and

13:56

those that are still a little bit

13:57

reserved about how it's going to unfold

14:00

so I think it's definitely um so for us

14:03

here in kooy we've we put in a dispens

14:05

robot um it's it's incredible it's been

14:08

a game Cher for us uh the amount of time

14:11

it's saved our pharmacist is is is crazy

14:14

um so and we have a full forward

14:16

Pharmacy model so our pharmacists are

14:19

out the front all the time there

14:20

basically is no dispensary anymore um

14:23

there's no sort of back service counter

14:26

um that counter is is the pharmacist so

14:28

we have a row of a row of Pharmacists a

14:31

big team of Pharmacists and when

14:33

customers come in and they chat to us

14:35

it's it's they're chatting straight to

14:36

the pharmacist so realistically it's

14:39

what we're doing every day um it's not

14:42

going to be a massive change for those

14:44

pharmacies that have already changed

14:46

their business model what it's going to

14:48

do is allow us to help take the pressure

14:51

off the GPS and not necessarily refer

14:53

every single patient that we see for

14:56

some very minor conditions um and it's

14:58

going going to allow us to be able to

15:00

have those conversations with people

15:02

provide the service and do it in a

15:04

professional way we've already got the

15:06

skills um we've got the knowledge it's

15:09

now just a matter of putting it into

15:11

practice and upskilling us and really

15:12

embracing this full scope um that's

15:15

being discussed about so heavily um but

15:17

I think yeah the key has to be aligning

15:19

yourself with a group that is um already

15:23

there with regards to their business

15:25

model our live life stores are very

15:27

fortunate that we have several of our

15:29

stores in the North Queensland pilot so

15:33

yeah we've got half a dozen or more

15:35

stores already um in the pilot those

15:38

pharmacists have started their training

15:39

we're going to have a significant amount

15:41

of information um within our group as to

15:44

what what it involves and and all the

15:46

pitfalls involved in in sort of being

15:48

the pilot and being the first ones to

15:50

roll it out so that's going to be yeah

15:52

very advantageous um for for us as early

15:56

care pharmacist how do we develop

15:58

ourselves to then fit in the future of

16:02

Pharmacy role one of the biggest things

16:05

that I personally look for is a great

16:07

communicator um I look for somebody that

16:09

has a genuine passion for health and a

16:12

genuine passion for caring um it it's

16:16

not so much about the grades and the

16:18

marks that you get at University don't

16:20

get me wrong they're very important um

16:23

but the personality of the early career

16:26

pharmacist is is absolutely what what we

16:29

look for someone that's um very

16:32

confident and very comfortable in

16:34

talking to our customers um someone

16:37

that's friendly someone that's got this

16:39

warm empathy feeling it really comes

16:42

down to that sort of personality so

16:44

someone that's very comfortable being in

16:46

these roles where they're talking to

16:47

people all day long that's absolutely a

16:50

quality um that we look for as a student

16:53

or as an early career pharmacist if

16:54

you're in an environment where you're

16:55

not getting that maximum exposure by

16:58

being being in a role where you can talk

17:00

to patients um then I think something

17:03

needs to change and you need to find

17:04

yourself somewhere where you can get

17:06

more practice um talking to more

17:09

patients because that's how we learn

17:11

when pharmacists are interested in

17:13

business they want to become a pharmacy

17:15

owner how would you like them to

17:17

approach you what's your method of

17:20

getting a partner on board so everyone

17:22

is different um and lots of different

17:24

brands work in lots of different ways um

17:26

whether you're a franchise model um or

17:29

not so it the conversations can get

17:32

quite tricky and it is it can be very

17:34

overwhelming to a early career

17:36

pharmacist is to understand which which

17:38

brands provide sort of what service I

17:41

guess for us um from a live life

17:43

perspective we are very open about our

17:46

career Pathways into ownership being a

17:48

real possibility um and the

17:50

conversations that we have with people

17:52

right from the beginning so it's a

17:54

conversation that we sort of know

17:55

whether or not this is a pathway that

17:57

you're looking for um uh if if it is

18:00

then we provide all of the tools to be

18:02

able to make it happen so you'd get

18:05

promoted into a pharmacist in charge or

18:08

a pharmacy manager position quite often

18:10

that would be having a pharmacy owner

18:12

either with you or near you as a mentor

18:16

um you'd have a a management training at

18:19

our head office where you learn about

18:21

all the different areas um from a

18:23

corporate entity so you understand the

18:26

finance level the HR level the payroll

18:28

level the operations level and you kind

18:30

of help to put all the pieces together

18:33

um and then that's how our group expands

18:35

is with Junior partners that are wanting

18:37

to come in as a pharmacy owner but a lot

18:41

of times you only can know whether it

18:43

fit with that team once you work with

18:47

them for a while uh a lot of times it

18:49

takes a longer and also ear career

18:51

pharmacist then they get to get to know

18:53

themselves selfawareness and realize who

18:56

they are as a professional is there a

18:58

process to help early career pharmacist

19:00

to Jael with see if that fits and how

19:03

would you deal with those situations

19:05

great great question that's very

19:06

challenging um and I think that's where

19:08

it comes back to if you're in a current

19:11

environment where you've maybe tried to

19:14

raise the question or you've tried to

19:16

have the conversation about your next

19:18

steps and if you're still feeling like

19:20

that's not um that's not being heard

19:23

then it's a matter of how long you're

19:25

willing to stay in an organization or in

19:28

in a current environment where you're

19:30

not you're not advancing so I think

19:33

number one definitely has to be having

19:35

those conversations with the people that

19:36

you're currently with sometimes it might

19:39

just be that they've got great

19:41

intentions and they didn't realize that

19:43

that's what you aspiring to be so I

19:45

think number one definitely has to be

19:47

have an open communication with your

19:48

current environment and just see whether

19:50

or not those pathways are on offer um

19:54

potentially um but then if you feel like

19:56

once you've voiced all of your

19:59

concerns or just what you're thinking

20:02

then and if you still feel like it's not

20:03

it's not right then that's the point

20:05

where you need to engage and start

20:07

looking within the industry at at people

20:09

that that are doing it right start

20:11

looking at other brands that maybe have

20:13

shown that they're they're offering

20:15

those Pathways um and and see for

20:18

yourself that um there are examples

20:21

where these Junior partnership models

20:23

work and they work very successfully

20:25

there's a lot of groups now that are

20:27

offering this um but now the offer is

20:30

very varied um from organization to

20:33

organization um so you know there's also

20:36

concern a lot of Partners go in thinking

20:38

that they're getting a great offer as a

20:40

junior partner and you've never worked

20:41

with this organization before so I think

20:44

to me that's a red flag like would you

20:46

want to go and invest into a company and

20:49

an organization that you know nothing

20:51

about I think a little bit of Common

20:52

Sense needs to definitely be a play here

20:55

um sometimes the offer you know you need

20:58

to really be comfortable with with what

21:00

you're doing and you need to really

21:01

understand the people that you're going

21:03

into business with um and if you don't

21:05

understand them then it's not the right

21:07

fit um I think you really need to just

21:10

be comfortable and feel supported before

21:12

you make these Financial um commitments

21:15

yeah it is a big commitment that not

21:18

only your time if it emotional energy as

21:21

well as Financial commitments so yeah

21:24

definitely any last advice you want to

21:27

leave with our ear CR

21:29

I think at the end of the day it takes

21:31

nothing to just reach out um via social

21:34

media platforms um just Reach Out make

21:37

connections uh and just just try to

21:39

engage just try to engage try to have

21:41

some um conversations with people that

21:44

um you you look up to or you respect um

21:47

or you're watching what they're doing

21:49

with their success of their businesses

21:51

and the success of their Pharmacy I

21:53

think we've all got a lot to learn from

21:55

the rest of our profession um I think

21:57

that yeah we've we've got some great

21:58

leaders within our profession at the

22:00

moment with within all the different

22:03

varying roles yeah there's a lot that

22:05

you can look for for for inspiration wow

22:08

thank you so much thank you for

22:09

listening to this episode of the your

22:11

Pharmacy career podcast proudly brought

22:14

to you by Raven's Recruitment Australia's

22:16

leading specialist Pharmacy recruitment

22:18

agency if you enjoyed this episode and

22:20

know anyone else who you think would

22:22

benefit from it we would be grateful if

22:24

you could share it with them together we

22:26

help even more pharmacists develop a

22:28

career career and life they love if you

22:30

have any questions or suggestions about

22:32

future podcast episodes please reach out

22:34

to us via email info@ravensrecruitment.com.au