By Our Editorial Staff
Everything changes, even the way of treating oneself. If before you bothered the doctor even for a simple migraine or a temporary malaise, today you run to the pharmacy to get information, get news or ask for advice. An evolution accelerated by Covid, which has not yet been completely eradicated, which has also dictated new rules in the way of managing health and the search for well-being. So, let’s see how the way of treating oneself evolves, which has led to a closer and more empathetic relationship with the trusted pharmacist in a chat full of content, reflections and updates with Dr. Vito Betti and sons of the pharmacy of the same name in Spoleto.
Today, the pharmacy is no longer just a place to buy drugs prescribed by the family doctor, but a specialist advice centre where you can receive useful advice for your health and, more generally, the well-being of body and mind, which go (or, at least, should go) hand in hand. This is confirmed by Dr. Vito Betti, owner together with his children Paolo and Federica, of the pharmacy in viale Trento e Trieste 63, for years a health centre considered by a large loyal clientele a real point of reference, constantly present and updated.
Good morning, dr. Betti, good to see you! What is the feeling after all these years as a pharmacist? The world of health and medicine has changed a lot, but what about the general mentality of consumers?
“We can say that the pharmacy, as a physical entity, has been the same for thirty years, but it is undeniable that especially in recent times it has been at the centre of an epochal change. It’s no longer like it was at the beginning when you came to the pharmacy only on doctor’s input. In recent years, the pharmacy is no longer seen exclusively as a commercial hub for the purchase of prescription medicines, but a place where people come regardless of the doctor to get information and do prevention, or to solve small health problems quickly and effectively. It must be said, then, that customers have also evolved, today they are more aware and, consequently, more demanding, in an exchange on an equal footing with the trusted pharmacist”.
Could we, in this sense, venture a new definition of pharmacist as a wellness consultant?
“But certainly, we will become, and we are already becoming in the midst of a daily evolution almost a first aid centre, even if we must not misunderstand the concept of health and well-being, which are on different levels even if they are closely communicating with each other. This radical transformation also includes the professional figure of the nurse present in the pharmacy or the physiotherapist who is able to guide the customer in choosing the most appropriate treatments and therapies, rather than screening, tests, vaccines and much more. Another pharmaceutical frontier with a great impact on customers is telemedicine, adopted with more than satisfactory results by the Betti pharmacy, a member of FederFarma Umbria, a reality that has also set the standard for similar associations operating in neighbouring regions, as in the case of Tuscany which has taken it as an operating model to follow. Thanks to this new frontier of health, son of digital, it is now possible to offer remote monitoring and remote consultation services, in cases where the patient considers it more convenient or is unable to move from home. Covid has contributed substantially to triggering the change”.
What do you think, Dr. Betti, of this aspect related to the pandemic that has profoundly transformed the role of the pharmacist?
“With Covid, the pharmacy has taken on greater weight in the relationship with patients and citizens in general. We were the only ones present 24 hours a day in assistance and listening to anyone who needed it at a time when it was almost impossible to relate directly to doctors and hospitals. This has helped to strengthen the bond with the people and has increased popular trust in us. A trust further strengthened also by the introduction of the generic on which we are called upon to provide information and insights to the customer, who is often disoriented or uninformed about it”.
What services does a state-of-the-art pharmacy like yours offer?
“Our pharmacy is a pioneer in offering innovative services to customers, over time it has been enriched with new proposals, including a series of diagnostic analyses and targeted basic treatments for health and personal care. Among the most popular services is cardiovascular screening rather than a cycle of analysis to test, for example, for any food allergies or intolerances. Another very useful service is deblistering, consisting of the practice of unpacking and portioning the drugs of a given therapeutic plan into personalized dosages, in order to help the patient correctly take the prescribed treatment. It is a service of the utmost utility especially in the case of the elderly who has to take thirty tablets a day and can get confused without an orderly and time-bound planning”.
With a view to progressive renewal, the pharmacy is therefore configured as the first point of reference for the patient, even before going to the doctor or hospital, also in terms of prevention, another fundamental bulwark in the health sector. What can you tell us about it?
“Prevention is the first step to not getting sick. Let’s not forget that health comes from nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, obviously if critical issues emerge from the diagnosis they must be addressed correctly, seriously and promptly”.
What would you recommend, Dr. Betti, to your customers?
“Not to take medicine. It may seem like a joke or a statement that sounds like shooting oneself in the foot said by a pharmacist, but if we think of the abuse or immoderate intake of drugs that distinguishes our era, even in the wake of fake news conveyed by social media, perhaps the time has come to stop and think even before taking a simple Tachipirina”.
Not only health, but also wellness. The pharmacy has now become a favourite destination for a vast and assorted clientele also for the search for beauty and wellness products to achieve a rewarding balance between body and mind. “Mens sana in corpore sano” is not only a proverbial motto handed down by our distant ancestors, but a modus vivendi that assembles external beauty and harmony of the spirit. A perfect combination that finds in pharmacies a wide range of safe and excellent products, with frequent discounts that favour the best value for money to be beautiful and healthy, outside and inside.
In short, today you don’t go to the pharmacy only “when you are sick”. How strategic have the cosmetics and food supplement sectors, which are growing strongly in terms of market demand, become strategic for pharmacies?
Federica, Vito’s daughter, answers: “It is a rapidly growing market, which unfortunately bears the risk of bad online information, which can cause damage to the consumer if not properly informed. It must be said that it is precisely on this level that greater empathy is built and developed with the customer who asks us, for example, about the use of specific skincare products or asks for enlightenment on which supplement to take. In these cases, a deeper and more lasting relationship is created with customers to accompany and follow them in choosing the best offered by the sector market”.
We cannot help but ask her about her relationship with her father and brother, and immediately her eyes light up, confirming the bond of complicity that unites them not only humanly, but also professionally.
Federica, what does it mean to run a “family-run” company?
“I can only say that it is a great thing, a fortune to work in the family, even if there may be pros and cons, but as far as I am concerned the advantages and satisfactions prevail”.
One last question, deliberately (and ironically) provocative, to Dr. Betti’s son, Paolo, who is also on the front line behind the counter of the family pharmacy, surrounded by a largely female team, except for his father.
What does it feel like to work “blissfully” among women?
“Finding men and women working together is a combination that works to give adequate answers, from different angles and with different sensitivities, to those who ask us for advice”.
Info: Betti Pharmacy, Viale Trento e Trieste 63, Spoleto (Pg) / Tel. 0743 223174