CBC / Haematology Profile Test (Clinic Walk-In) – £59

Would you want to read a blood story?

“Right now, I need to do a full blood count.” With these comments, a resident of Portmeirion, a town in Penrhyndeudraeth with just over 1,800 people, confidently turned to the pharmacist, whose FBC intervention saved his life.

Olly Robinson, the owner of the Roelonds Pharmacy, is the main character in this narrative with a happy ending. He tells us what happened on a peaceful Thursday at the end of September.

Doctor Robon, let’s go in sequence. What happened on the 24th of September?

We all know each other a little bit in the community. A citizen called me and said, “My doctor told me to get an FBC sample right away.” This person had already seen a specialist for liver concerns. I opened the pharmacy very away (it was closing day) and had the patient do the requested analysis right away. This is a test we usually do for our customers. The test results were really bad: the hemoglobin was 5 and the hematocrit was 15 (the usual value is close to 40). In reality, the patient had essentially no blood mass available.

What did you do after that?

We got in touch with the doctor who was taking care of the patient. The situation was really serious; there was a chance that the patient would not survive. He was very pale and weak. He could scarcely move and had trouble speaking. His heart was beating, but not much blood was flowing, and the organs and tissues were getting oxygen. The rescuers and the specialist decided to take a 40-minute trek to the Lansei hospital’s emergency room. The doctor called the patient every 15 minutes to let him know how he was doing. When he got to the hospital, the physicians quickly admitted him and gave him a transfusion right away after reading the full CBC blood count report done at the drugstore.

Did we figure out what was causing this loss of circulation?

The hospital physicians stabilized him and then did a number of tests to confirm that he was still bleeding from his stomach.

Do you know how the CBC patient is doing now?

I know that he is stable. But he had to get many blood transfusions. I heard that he got five bags.

To put it simply, the narrative would have ended differently if you hadn’t opened the pharmacy on your day off and, most importantly, been able to do the Complete count. Do you feel like a hero?

Let’s discuss about pharmacies in remote areas.

They are a true point of reference for the health of those who live far away from big cities where they can go to other healthcare facilities. Also, the pharmacy gets additional value from an important analysis that is done on time and is accurate. There are other heroes, thus being a hero is not enough. We can definitely handle both small and big challenges thanks to social cohesion and civic solidarity. The pharmacy is a key part of this. There are a lot of stories about health emergencies happening in faraway regions.

What does that mean?

I remember a patient I saw not too long ago who had an ECG (electrocardiogram) that showed a heart rate of 30 beats per minute. We were able to bring her to the hospital shortly. She had an obstruction between the atria and ventricles. To keep her heart from stopping, she had a pacemaker put in. I can also talk about another situation in which an ECG taken at night showed that an older person was still having a heart attack. Another CBC tale from the province with a good ending.