Innovator: Finding fulfilment throughout a life in pharmacy

Nova Scotia’s Graham MacKenzie has found the “secret sauce” to a long and fulfilling career in community pharmacy: always make time in your practice to do the things you enjoy. It sounds simple enough, but as MacKenzie demonstrates, doing so takes initiative, planning and an ongoing willingness to take risks.Case in point, in 2023 when he was just shy of 57 years old, MacKenzie sold the pharmacy he had owned for 23 years—the only specialty compounding pharmacy in Cape Breton—to buy back the time that would allow him to focus on his passion around healthcare education. “I realized I was bogged down with so many things as an owner that I couldn’t focus on the things I really liked doing,” he says. Today as a full-time pharmacist at the same pharmacy, he has more time to spend doing clinical presentations and face-to-face patient education, among other pursuits.Eventually MacKenzie’s goal is to work a three-day week at the pharmacy so he can make even more time for writing and educating others on some of his favorite topics, such as compounding, medication safety and pharmacy advocacy. “I want to be able to say ‘yes’ more often to presentations and other education opportunities,” he says.In that vein, MacKenzie has written books, appeared on numerous podcasts and major broadcasts, and has posted several educational YouTube videos on topics ranging from compounding transdermal pain cream to grocery shopping for better health. He is also a blogger for CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca and presents regularly at conferences and to various groups.The fact that he had no background in professional writing didn’t deter him from penning two successful books: Healthy Logic and Gut Logic. The first came about after he’d written numerous health-related blogs on his former website. He wanted to develop a book where he could put all of those health tidbits together and help people access science-backed answers to questions on topics such as how much sleep is really necessary and whether there are particular diets that prolong life expectancy. He found a publisher and editor and the rest is history. “I had copies in our store and I was going to bookstores all over Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec to promote it,” he says. “It didn’t bring in a lot of money but the amount of requests for radio and TV interviews it prompted was big—and I got to talk about the things I enjoy.”In fact, his publishers liked the book so much, they asked him to write another two as part of a series. “That second [Gut Logic, A Scientific Approach to Improving Your Gut Microbiome] was a little tougher to write because I had to do lots of research on each topic,” he says, noting that he gleaned valuable insights from co-authors Dragana-Skokovic-Sunjic and Lindsay Dixon, who are experts in gut health and probiotics. He expects to finish the third book by next year although he doesn’t have a topic yet and hasn’t started writing. “I find it really exciting to share new information and it is amazing how much information can be conveyed to people that they didn’t know about.”MacKenzie is a big advocate for actively promoting his expertise and services to the community to raise his profile. “When your name is out there on Twitter and other social media platforms, it’s a free way to show people what you stand for—and now people reach out to me,” he says. “You can put your name on a speaker’s bureau list but in the end, when you start giving talks and getting out there, word gets around.” At the time of this interview, he was gearing up to do a presentation to local physicians on adverse drug reactions.In looking back at his time as owner of Stone’s Pharmacy in Baddeck, NS, MacKenzie recalls several ways he took the initiative to make his workspace and practice more enticing to both staff and patients. He joined Stone’s after graduating from Dalhousie University’s College of Pharmacy and eventually purchased the pharmacy, along with the hardware store in the same building. Soon after taking ownership, he revamped the outside and inside, quadrupling the dispensary and adding a compounding lab, which quickly became an essential service in the area. “I think my biggest overall success with the media [opportunities] and patients and physicians was with the growth of our palliative care services which came about through the compounding,” he says. “I really enjoy problem-solving with the doctors around palliative care options.”MacKenzie credits Dr. John Ritter, a palliative care doctor in Cape Breton, for helping raise awareness around the merits of the compounding services available through Stone’s Pharmacy. “He and I have done multiple in-person and online sessions with physicians to open their eyes to the whole world of compounding and what is available to them.”The “awesome” staff have also been essential to the success of Stone’s Pharmacy over the last two decades, notes MacKenzie. Many have stayed with the pharmacy a long time due to a positive workplace culture that encourages autonomy. “I think giving people enough leeway to make decisions and, in a way, run their part of the dispensary is a huge motivator,” he says. Plus, it’s the small things that can make a difference. At the beginning of COVID-19 when there were no vaccines, MacKenzie had t-shirts made for staff that said Keep Calm and Buy Soap. “It was like I gave them $100—you never realize how grateful staff can be when they just know that they’re recognized.”Even as he prepares to scale back on his practice hours, MacKenzie insists that it’s important for him to spend time in the pharmacy setting on a regular basis. “I could educate myself all day on blood pressure and heart disease but I wouldn’t feel as confident unless I was working with patients too,” he says. “When I’m being interviewed by media and they’re asking me about the biggest questions from customers today, I need to be in the pharmacy a couple of days a week to stay relevant.”

Innovator: Finding fulfilment throughout a life in pharmacy

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