Pharmacist and Government Pharmacy Inspector Lynanne Bolton first seriously considered entering her profession at the suggestion of her mother, who noted that she liked both "cooking and chemistry". Now after over three decades in the profession, she is still thankful to her mother for steering her onto the path of a job she loves.

Ms Bolton now works part-time at People's Pharmacy while also serving as the Island's Pharmacy Inspector but over her long career she has worked in many aspects of pharmacy.

After graduating with her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she opted to stay in Canada for a few years and work rather than returning immediately to Bermuda. She changed coasts and landed in Vancouver where she promptly found that there were no jobs for pharmacists.

So, she took a job working as a sales rep for a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. "This turned out to be a great job because you get an insight into the manufacturing process of drugs and how the testing goes on and also how they are sold. A lot of my time was spent going back and forth to home office and attending seminars about new drugs and there were lots of new drugs coming out."

Next, she landed a job instructing at a community college after one of her former professors from Dal recommended her for a position teaching pharmacy technicians, which he has declined. "These were high school graduates or people who had come back into the work force for retraining," she said. "I also had some older women whose children had grown up and they wanted to go back into the workforce. It was mish-mash of people and abilities and that was very helpful to me in terms of learning to impart knowledge to a hugely diverse group of people."

When she returned to Bermuda, her intention was only to stay briefly before hitting the open road travelling. One thing led to another, however, and Ms Bolton ended up in Bermuda longer than she had intended. While she was working at the now defunct Bermuda Pharmacy, she was approached by the White family to help set up a pharmacy in their supermarket in Warwick.

"It was never intended that I would stay there," she said. "I was just going help launch it. I ended up staying there for 20 years." Over the years she would marry and have two children while tending to her community. She remembers the time fondly.

"It was my baby," she said. "In those days there weren't pharmacies in grocery stores, that was a new thing. It was one-stop shopping. I always thought it was really a privilege to be able to help so many people in that area. It was a neighbourhood concept. People would and still do call me in the night to ask me questions about things. People would come to the pharmacy first."

As such a trusted professional, she had a window into people's lives. "In those days, you used to have to have your pregnancy tests done in the pharmacy," she said. "So I got to tell people they were pregnant and they would come back later with the baby and sometimes those kids would come back later.

"There is something about a pharmacist. We're accessible. I have always loved being part of people's lives. Those years at White's were very good years."

Pharmacists, she noted, are the only medical professionals you can walk in and consult without an appointment or cost — although she suggests calling ahead to ask about a quieter time of the day if a longer discussion is needed. Ms Bolton also recommends that people try and use one pharmacy exclusively and develop relationships with their pharmacists. By doing so, pharmacists can see if different medications prescribed by different physicians which might be contraindicated and avoid potentially dangerous drug interactions.

The importance of the tasks the pharmacist performs means that filling a prescription sometimes takes a little longer than busy city workers appreciate. Ms Bolton asks that clients try and understand that. "Pharmacists take great care to check every aspect of the prescription to be sure that it is appropriate for the patient," she said. "This involves checking the computer record to be sure that the new prescription is compatible with other medications the patient is taking and may involve consulting with the doctor."

Patients should also take care to follow the instructions being given to them to take a drug to its full course. "A lot of people stop taking their medication," she said. "I often hear people saying they are going to give their body a break. If your medication is working, you should not stop taking it. High blood pressure does not go away, cholesterol does not go away. If you're feeling well it is because your body is working well with the medication. Stopping the medication can be dangerous."

And Ms Bolton suggests that people discuss the costs of medications with pharmacists and their doctors, rather than abandoning medication they cannot afford. "If you cannot afford a medication, often there are alternatives," she said. "You should not be embarrassed to tell your doctor you cannot afford a certain drug."

Those considering pharmacy as a career should have a strong background in science, be logical and unflappable and have the ability to prioritise tasks. "In pharmacy, very often a lot of things happen at one time," she said. "You have phones ringing, you have people in front of you, you're thinking of a problem you're working on from before. You need to be focused and to be able to think things through logically. And you need to like people too, because so much of retail pharmacy is dealing with people and often they are sick people so they react differently than healthy people would in a given situation."

In addition to her work on Mondays and Fridays at People's Pharmacy, Ms Bolton helps out at other pharmacies on occasion including Lindo's, Caesar's and the Turning Point Methadone clinic.

She also wears the hat of Pharmacy Inspector, which calls on her to follow up on complaints against pharmacies and issues of concern to pharmacists, liaise with Pharmacy Council and to inspect shipments of narcotics into the Island. She also does spot checks at pharmacies and doctors' offices to ensure they are storing drugs correctly and properly tracking their stocks.

The range of tasks she undertakes as Inspector is varied, an aspect of the position she find challenging and fulfilling as she has found her job in general. "Pharmacy is such a positive profession," she said. "People want to talk to you, they want to listen to what you are saying. It has been a very happy profession for me."