Today you’ll meet an Syrian drug dealing pilot who lives in South Australia's Clare Valley.
He’s of Syrian descent, he’s flies a plane and he sells drugs - but the legal kind.
Richard ( El-koo- ree) Elkhoury has been a pharmacist in the Clare Valley for 21 years. He's the managing director of Clare Pharmacy Group, Board of directors of Country and Outback Health, Chair of the Yorketown Medical Service and a sponsor of the Children’s charity, the Variety Bash.
When he’s not running his pharmacies in the mid north he’s in his Cessna 182 flying across the regional South Australia visiting patients.
In this episode Richard talks about the difficulties of running a pharmacy in the regions, as attracting and retaining staff is a major problem and not just in pharmacy but across the board in the health industry. He has devoted the last 21 years of his life to giving regional people the same health care as those in the cities, but it hasn’t been easy. He also tells tales about the children's charity, the Variety Bash where he gets to fly his plane and drive in his pink ice cream truck.
Richard's family emigrated from Syria in 1972, and he was born 4 years later. He never ventured far from the city apart from trips to Port Pirie to see his uncles because his parents worked seven days a week in delicatessens.
Was Richard going to follow his family’s footsteps? He had other ideas.
This is Richard’s story.
Country and Outback Health: https://cobh.com.au/
Go Rural campaign: https://www.healthstaffrecruitment.com.au/news/go-rural-campaign-aims-address-rural-doctor-shortages/
Top Gun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSqVVswa420
My name is Annabelle Homer your podcast host and owner of a little business Voice it. I’m a voice coach, podcaster, a former ABC rural broadcast journalist who's passionate about giving people the skills to communicate well in public. If you want to 'up' your public speaking game either on stage at any event, a conference, a father of the bride speech at a wedding or simply being interviewed on a podcast - get in touch.
https://voiceit.me