Lightning Ridge pharmacist Rhonda White celebrates 40 years of business

She has been the sole pharmacist for the community for the majority of her career and has given up a huge part of her life to helping the local residents.

Ms White first opened her doors to the community on February 7, 1983 and over the past 40 years has faced both challenges and prosperity.

"I became a pharmacist because I wanted to study a science subject, but one that had a job at the end of it and I had done a short student placement at Walgett Pharmacy and found it interesting," she said.

Ms White graduated from Sydney University in 1980 before doing an intern year in the suburbs of Sydney.

Unfortunately during her intern year, Ms White's father was diagnosed with cancer, so when she was registered she took up a position at Walgett Pharmacy to be close to home.

Lightning Ridge did not have a pharmacy at that time.

"While I was working at Walgett Pharmacy some Lightning Ridge locals approached my Dad, who was in remission by then, to build me a pharmacy in the Ridge and myself to consider opening a pharmacy in Lightning Ridge," she said.

"It was quite a daunting thought after only a couple of years experience, but hard to say no to the opportunity."

Ms White never considered moving away from Lightning Ridge because it is her home, town and community and she has cared for generations of families.

"It is an interesting place, due to the multi-cultural nature of the population and the diverse mix of travellers who come here," she said.

"There is nowhere else quite like it and nowhere else I want to go.

"I think this also explains why I have continued as the pharmacist for so long and not changed careers. It's what I do and enjoy!"

Through droughts, floods, opal mining booms and busts, no doctors or a 24 hour hospital Ms White has see it all.

"To say there have been challenges during my 40 years, would be an understatement," she said.

"There have been droughts, bringing great hardship to our farming fraternity; there have been floods, bringing huge logistical issues to getting deliveries in to town and getting medication to outlying patients; there have been tough economic times, including recessions and John Howard's high tax years.

"There have been opal mining booms and busts; there have been long power outages especially in the early years, when we were at the end of a single power supply line; we have not always had permanent doctors and sometimes no doctor at all and we did not have a hospital open 24 hours a day in the early years."

In her own words, to say that she has had a lot of good memories is also an "understatement".

"It's memories of helping people who needed help and working as a team to provide a service whatever the obstacles and being appreciated by the community for our efforts," she said.

As a strong supporter of the community, Ms White has continued to provide sponsorship to many groups over the years.

She was the secretary of the brand new LR Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the first 10 years in business.

"We lobbied government and got the health service upgraded to a 24 hour a day service in a new building, we got the airport sealed with bitumen and landing lights installed so the air-ambulance could land here and passenger planes would come here," she said.

"We got the seasonal transient nature of the population here recognised by government in terms of getting water, effluent and a myriad of other improvements for the town.

"We nominated the five girls working to get an Olympic swimming pool built for an Australia Day award, which resulted in them getting a Bob Hawke grant that helped our Olympic Pool to became a reality."

Ms White was also on the United Hospital Auxiliary committee for many years, providing items for the hospital such as a slit lamp. They also fund raised to build a body holding facility in the hospital grounds.

More recently White Pharmacy became a major sponsor for the Opal and Fossil Centre believing this will be a huge benefit to the community.

"I have sponsored the entrants in the Opal Queen competition every year it has been held. I have also given of my time and energy to take my keyboard and P.A. and play the songs at the 11am Anzac Day Service every year and to play for countless funerals," she said.

Ms White has been instrumental in supporting her community through the pandemic by staying open with a window at the front of her store.

"It seemed to come out of nowhere and turn our lives upside down for a couple of years," she said.

"When Queensland closed it's border to NSW, like many border towns, we had a lot of caravaners stuck here for months."

In a scramble to get organised and clear the clutter in the shop, reorganise cleaning routines and get used to wearing masks and hand sanitiser, Ms White made the decision to trade outside the front door to minimise the risk of catching COVID-19.

"We improvised with a counter on wheels and cardboard dividers, as well as sneeze screens, to try to maintain some privacy and confidentiality," she said.

"It meant kilometres of walking and running back and forth from the dispensary. It was absolutely impossible to get a locum pharmacist during the COVID years, as the available locum pharmacists were taken up by vaccinating pharmacies who have to have another pharmacist on duty while they are vaccinating and there were no overseas pharmacists allowed in.

"If I had got COVID then, the pharmacy would most likely have had to close."

With scared and stressed staff, some simply gave notice and left while others needed stress leave. There was no-one applying for jobs.

"The government brought in electronic scripts before the details were properly tested, they changed rules almost daily, wholesalers ran out of vital stock and more," she said.

"It was really, really tough. I would hate to be trying to get through it without 38 years of experience to call on."

With a love of teaching, Ms White has had the privilege of passing along her knowledge to pharmacy and medicine students on short placements.

She has employed many over the years and has been mentor to two local's Natasha Turnbull and Rebecca Lane who have both gone on to complete their degrees in pharmacy.

"It has been my pleasure to pass on knowledge to Beccy and Tash, plus other pharmacy and med students and a considerable number of pharmacy assistants," she said.

"I love teaching anyone who is listening and wants to learn. I am very proud of Tash and Beccy for becoming not just pharmacists, but good pharmacists.

"It was a strange feeling when Tash qualified and moved back to the district to not be the only registered pharmacist in a 70 kilometre radius in any direction."

Ms White loves helping people and her pharmacy is her way of doing that.

"From the perspective of someone who knows the patients, their background and history and they know me," she said.

"In an era when the GP's are changing weekly, we are the constant in their health care. This makes a positive difference for them and for me.

"I have been a Christian all my life and I give God the praise and thanks for giving me the health and strength to do what I have done so far."