Many people can remember trips to “the chemist” when they were young. For Ann D’Souza, these visits made such an impression that she decided she wanted to work there, and has now been a loyal employee at Avicenna Pharmacy Maybush in Southampton for nearly quarter of a century

Every day when Ann walks into her place of work, she looks at it as if she was a customer, and then does what needs to be done to make sure it is clean, professional, modern and well-stocked. The medicines counter assistant lends a hand wherever is needed and takes health promotion campaigns and initiatives in innovative directions, for example by going into schools and nursing homes to promote flu jabs. This is what caught the eye of judges, resulting in Ann being named highly commended in the Pharmacy Champion category. 

Ann says her success is due to her fundamental values and caring nature: “My motto is that each and every customer pays my wages. Without them I wouldn’t have a job, and without us there wouldn’t be a service. I just love my job!”