Edwin: Pharmacist, steward and the Bible

Edwin is a pharmacist. He was born into Methodism and his grandfather was a reverend minister in Ghana. Edwin now works for the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association, considering at global policies relating to health inequalities in low- and middle-income countries. Since the 1990s, Edwin has been a part-time DJ, and he is also a steward at Castle Street Methodist and a member of the church council.

Faith is one of the reasons I work in healthcare, that and my mother who is a retired nurse, but I always knew I wanted to go into a caring environment and faith was part of that decision.

There's been moments of what I will call ‘ethical judgements’, where I've asked myself, ‘What would Jesus do? What is the Christian thing to do at this moment in time?’ When it's not clear-cut, you need another avenue, and that's where my faith really comes into play.

There are moments where I've had to save someone from an asthma attack, an allergic reaction or someone whose drink has been spiked and my faith helps me deal with those types of situations. Whenever I get to a crossroads, I always turn to the Bible and faith for answers.

A difficult incident comes to mind where I was racially abused and walked away. It was really hard to not swing that arm and just let it be. When I got back home, I said, “Thank You God” and let it go. My faith has certainly been my guiding compass.

A man once came into the pharmacy to collect his prescription for methadone and we got talking. My assumption was that the methadone was the result of addiction to illegal drugs.

It turns out he had had an accident and was given painkillers that he became addicted to, leading to his addictive history. Through our conversation, he went back to reading the Bible. Afterwards, every Monday morning, when he would come and collect, we'd catch up for a few minutes on what he'd read.

Last time we spoke he had greatly reduced his prescription. He said it was my reintroducing him to the Bible that helped him.

We sometimes make assumptions about people in a way that isn't Christian and I pray to God to forgive me for that, but it's those moments where you realise that God is using you for a reason, for a purpose, despite the mistakes you make. That interaction gave me a moment to correct my assumption.