For parents living in remote areas with children experiencing unusual symptoms, Dr Google can often be the first port of call. However, while that rare, life-threatening illness that pops up as the first search result could be possible, some simple treatments that are available at home may be be all that’s needed.
UNE Smart Region Incubator (SRI) Founder and Director of PharmOnline, Anna Barwick, recalls experiencing this dilemma far too often while on maternity leave with her two babies in 2016 and 2017 while living in Walcha, NSW. Sick of the constant stress, a light bulb began to flicker in her mind.
For those living in rural areas, it’s not always easy to just drop in to the local pharmacy.
“I thought, ‘how great would it be to be able to talk to a pharmacist whenever you need to, without having to leave the house?’,” she says.
It was at that moment that Australia's first pharmacist-led telehealth service, PharmOnline, was conceived.
“For those living in rural areas, it’s not always easy to just drop in to the local pharmacy," she says.
"Being a rural person myself, I know how difficult it can be to bundle your sick family into the car and drive all the way into town for some advice. Add on the cost of petrol, and many people in these areas have no choice but to stay at home and risk the consequences.”
After a chat with the team at the UNE SRI, Anna says she was given the confidence, knowledge and mentorship needed to move forward with her idea.
“I was a bit reluctant to put the idea out there because I thought people might think that it was silly," she says.
“However, the positive reinforcement from the team at the SRI encouraged me to come up with a business plan, and thanks to their support, today PharmOnline is not only giving isolated people access to reliable, face-to-face information, but we’ve also started servicing a number of corporate businesses and organisations too.”
Through my teaching, I want to inspire my students and use my knowledge as an entrepreneur to equip them with a whole range of skills so they can apply it and create the next big thing.
On top of being an SRI Founder, Anna is a qualified community pharmacist, a lecturer in Pharmacy at UNE, and is studying her PhD. She’s also won a number of accolades, including the 2021 NSW Pharmacist of the Year, the 2021 PSA Shark Tank People’s Choice award and the 2021 New England North West Outstanding Startup award.
To add to her list of achievements, she was recently named a finalist for the NSW Regional Woman of the Year Award, and has written a chapter about her entrepreneurial insights in Rural Business Women, a book curated by Sarah Walkerden exploring the varying experiences of a number of successful female entrepreneurs.
Anna says the support and mentorship she’s received along the way has helped her build the confidence to achieve these things, and she hopes she can now do the same for others through the book, and her work as a lecturer.
“For me, it was helpful to see when others were kicking goals, because it made me realise that I could do it, too,” she says.
“Through my teaching, I want to inspire my students and use my knowledge as an entrepreneur to equip them with a whole range of skills so they can apply it and create the next big thing. I tell my students in first year, ‘we don’t want cookie cutter pharmacists’, so I’m really keen to contribute to a legacy of innovation and help people realise their ability to change things and improve the experiences for people in their local communities.”
Rural Business Women will be launched at NOVA in Armidale this Friday 4 March, 4-6pm. If you’re in the Armidale area and would like to attend, you can secure your place here.
Or, if you’re like Anna and have an idea that you think could be the next big thing, visit the UNE SRI website to see how they can help you to grow your idea.
