With the average person set to have anywhere between 10 to 17 jobs in the future, it’s a rarity to find someone under the age of 40 who has been in the same profession for 20 years.
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But Rebecca Bruce from the Boorowa Pharmacy has done just that.
Ms Bruce has just celebrated two decades of full-time work with the pharmacy in late November and says it amazing to see how much things have changed.
“You’re seeing people that were pregnant and now their kids are 18, I've been here for that long,” she said.
“All the younger people are now old enough to go on their own way.
“I kinda feel old.”
She said it’s not only the people that come through the door that have changed, but the pharmacy itself has transformed over the two decades.
“In 20 years, there’s a lot. When I first started, we only ever had one computer for the whole shop and that was dispense only so now we’ve got two dispensing computers,” she said.
“When I first came here, we had a till, like a manual till so now we’ve got two computerised registers.
“We now pack Websters so that wasn’t a thing when I first started, that was more you did yourself basically at home.
“The shop’s changed completely, we’ve refitted in the 20 years. There have been a lot of changes.”
She said the one thing that keeps her job interesting and motivating at the pharmacy is the customers.
“I like the customers, I like helping people out or seeing the little people becoming big people,” she said.
“It’s mainly helping people.”
Ms Bruce started with the Boorowa Pharmacy by undertaking work experience in Year 11. From there, she worked on Saturdays before moving to full-time work in 1997.
She said she there are always challenges involved in working in the health profession.
“Trying to work out new products, being a small town we don’t get to see many of the reps that bigger chains see,” she said.
“Learning how to do new things like taking blood pressures, doing diabetes records, things like that, the hands-on stuff.”
She also said that laws surrounding pharmacists and pharmacy assistants have also changed.
“There’s different rules for the pharmacist and there’s different rules for us so those rules change constantly,” she said.
Ms Bruce said she’s looking forward to whatever the future holds for her, but mainly hopes to continue working and helping out the Boorowa community.
“More changes, meeting more people and meeting new people,” she said.
“Hopefully to be here for another 20 years maybe.”
