A Finnish pharmacy invests in a healthier, more sustainable future
Tiina Vaitomaa wanted to give her pharmacy a personal touch and show the staff’s expertise, which covers a range of different fields. Both the environment and services in Ympyrätalo pharmacy are results of careful consideration.
Now the environment and services reflect the values of the pharmacy; customer orientation, innovativeness, eco-friendliness, and sustainability in everyday work.
Well-being is based on small actions enhancing your health
Vaitomaa is very keen on holistic well-being and supporting your health in different ways. The pharmacy offers, in addition to traditional pharmacy products, a wide range of well-being services, for example health promoting feet treatments, Chinese and traditional medical science combining Harmoniaa-treatments and also consultancy by nurses.
In the Ympyrätalo pharmacy the aim was to design the services to be as customer orientated as possible and to offer the services in an easy and comfortable way.
Responsibility is a necessity in today’s business
The pharmacist Elina Aaltonen of Ympyrätalo pharmacy researched, in the thesis of her pharmacy studies, the meanings of environmental values to pharmacy customers. The study was conducted in five Finnish cities, in pharmacies that are a part of the chain YTA co-operative pharmacies. The results were similar in all of the cities.
“Elina's research showed us that we are on the right path with our environmental work. It was a sign for us that we have paid attention to the things our customers care about,” figures Vaitomaa. None of the respondents thought the environmental work had no value. Many actually thought of the environmental responsibility as a standard in today’s business.
A small group was found, who found the environmental values and responsibility of the company to be extremely important. Some of them were also ready to pay extra in product prices, if the actions of the company respected these values.
Sustainability as a part of our everyday work
Tiina Vaitomaa leads her pharmacy determined through these values. “The values should be a part of our everyday work. Then, they really become meaningful and also visible for the customers.”
The chain YTA co-operative pharmacies also supports sustainability. A significant step for sustainability and green business is also to reduce medicine waste.
“We also encourage our partners, for example medicine companies and suppliers, to take responsibility of the environment, says Vaitomaa. The pharmacy encourages the customers to small acts for a better tomorrow, for example, to prefer non-plastic bags instead of the disposable ones.