Staff are "devastated" after a fire tore through their community pharmacy.
Firefighters were called to Euro Chemist on Berry Street last Thursday morning after a fire broke out at the pharmacy caused by an electrical fault. The pharmacy, which has provided Liverpool's Chinese community from neighbouring Chinatown with NHS services for 43 years this month, has been closed ever since.
Staff at the pharmacy said they were "devastated and worried" for their community, who will now be left without an essential and unique service - for which the team at Euro Chemist have won awards and applause from the Mayor of London - until the shop reopens.
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Derryn Cottrill, a pharmacist at Eurochemist, said the fire was "devastating" and wanted to assure their loyal community and "big family" they "haven't left them and will be back as soon as."
She told the ECHO: "It's just devastating. We are supposed to be turning 43 this month.
"We're devastated and worried for our community. Because of all the work we do for the community, I just want them to know we haven't left them and we will be back as soon as we can.
"We are hoping to get up and running in the community once again as soon as is possible. We've been serving the Chinese community since opening. We've been a service of help for stuff that goes beyond just being a point of access for NHS services."
Staff at Euro Chemist - which is more of a community-minded health hub than pharmacy - once won Pharmacy Business magazine's "team award" for their work over the pandemic, which they continue today. Members of the team are trained in Cantonese and Mandarin, and have produced a range of essential health information and support materials in various languages for their community.
They also hold tea mornings, charity events and even gardening clubs, and loyal customers are known to just pop in for a coffee and a catch-up.
"With all the mental health issues that happened over covid we've been talking to our patients too, regularly too to make sure they're doing okay and how we can help when we can. I've been there eight years. I never have wanted to move anywhere else.
"It's a safe space for me. I just love the patients and community, it really has been the same shop from since the 1980s."
Derryn spoke about the day the pharmacy caught fire. She added: "I was on the way to work and got a call from the alarm company.
"We then got a call from a passerby who said the shop was on fire and we rushed down."
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