My family has owned the pharmacy in Portobello High Street for over thirty years and having served the local community for so long, I have come to know many patients and their families well. A large part of my job is speaking to patients about their medicines and how they work. Many people have concerns about how they take their medicines, what the side effects might be and what other medicines and foods they may have to avoid. Some children especially can be reluctant to take medicines because they don’t understand why they have to take them or why they are different from their friends. However, once they understand that medicines make them better and not different they are much happier to take them. In fact many children are able to manage their illness and their medicines themselves and often keep me right! The Baxterbear story, “A friend indeed for those in need” is a wonderful way for children to realise that having an illness doesn’t make them different and actually make them special since they are looking after themselves in a very grown up way. It also lets them know that there lots of people who are there to care for them and look after them. We have been handing out copies of the Baxterbear story “A friend indeed for those in need” to children who come into our pharmacy and many have said how much they have enjoyed reading them. I am also sure that they have picked up a very important message about illness and their attitudes to it.