[Portraits] The Tulipe association (Transfert d’Urgence de l’Industrie Pharmaceutique) celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2022. Each month, we invite you to discover the people who are committed to the association. Staff, volunteers, members of the Board of Directors, member healthcare companies or NGOs: thanks to them, the association has been fulfilling its mission of providing emergency medical response to populations in distress for 40 years. Today, a portrait of Anne Carpentier, Head Pharmacist at Tulipe, who has also been working for Leem since 1994.
Anne Carpentier, responsible pharmacist
Anne Carpentier is one of the guarantors of the transparency and smooth operation of the Tulipe association as a pharmaceutical establishment. Anne Carpentier’s role is to ensure and guarantee the quality of the medicines that are donated to Tulipe’s partners: NGOs or authorities in countries that may call on the association in the event of conflict or natural disaster. Tulipe is subject to the WHO’s Good Donorship Guidelines. ” Health products must still be valid for one year when they are sent. As the pharmacist in charge, I am responsible for ensuring good practice and compliance with regulations”, says Anne Carpentier when asked about her mission.
Anne Carpentier, Head Pharmacist at Tulipe since 2015. One of her desires is to go into the field and help out on the spot.
“This is my first real commitment to humanitarian work”.
Tulipe is Anne Carpentier’s first experience of humanitarian work, but her desire to help others goes back much further. When I was a teenager, I worked for the Protection Civile. During my first year of medical school, I was already very interested in helping people, fighting disease, looking after people… I’ve always had this passion. Tulipe is my first real commitment to humanitarian work, and I’m very proud of it. I feel we’re making a difference and that’s something I really want to do. It’s rewarding to do something that’s not for profit.
Taking stock of the pharmaceutical situation
This healthcare professional joined the association through the back doorin 2015. At the time, Tulipe no longer had a pharmacist in charge and the association needed a recognised professional to carry out a pharmaceutical inventory. This was a key moment in the life of the association, as it enabled it to maintain its accreditation with the ANSM (Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament et des produits de santé). In October 2015, with the arrival of Thomas Borel at Leem’s Scientific Affairs Department, Tulipe had to be reorganised. I started managing the stocks and began volunteering for Tulipe with the pleasure of helping out.
Being available at all times
Following a vote by the association’s Board of Directors in July 2016, Anne Carpentier became the association’s Head Pharmacist and Deputy Director. A major change came in July 2020, when Tulipe moved into a new warehouse in Le Thillay: “We had to carry out a major quality update because we had to transfer the facility and start from scratch with an empty building, which meant a complete overhaul of organisational procedures”. Today, Anne Carpentier is both Head Pharmacist and Director of Pharmaceutical Affairs at Leem: “I don’t divide my time between my two activities. But you can’t be a pharmacist in charge part-time, I have to be available at all times if I need to be”, Anne Carpentier points out.
“I’ve devoted myself completely to the association”.
Recently, this need, or rather this urgency, materialised with the war in Ukraine. Anne Carpentier spent most of her time there at the time : “It was special, we had a lot of volunteers to supervise in the preparation of emergency kits, and there was a need for Pharma supervision. As soon as the conflict broke out, I cancelled meetings and working groups, and put things on hold… I devoted myself completely to the charity. We had a massive influx of products that needed to be put back into stock, and Mohammed Aidouni, Tulipe’s logistician, no longer had the capacity to manage the large volume of references that needed to be entered electronically. In fact, he was in the warehouse all the time, having to manage entries, exits and inventories on paper. So we did a bit of everything, i.e. I replaced Mohammed from time to time to enter the inventories, and Alexandre Laridan, the Operations Manager, also did this. I was also able to deal with requests from Valérie, the administrative manager, because she also dealt with donations, financial gifts, forms… We gave it our all! That’s what I like about Tulipe, there’s a real sense of solidarity, even though there are only four of us working full-time. There’s also Dorothée and Laurent who have given a lot more time than they used to”.
Anne Carpentier alongside Valérie Sénéchaut at the Journées de la Qualité Pharmaceutiques in Marseille in May 2022.
The agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: a milestone
The last few months, with the war in Ukraine, have been among the most significant for the pharmacist. She has also witnessed a key stage in the life of the association: “the signing of the agreement with the Crisis Centre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was a milestone in Tulipe’s recognition as a major player in humanitarian donations. Thanks to this agreement, we can donate products directly to the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For me, this is a real turning point that will enable us to be more effective in emergency cases. In particular, when emergency situations require us to send medical kits within 48 hours”.
A load of medicines sent on the presidential plane
This agreement has enabled the Tulipe association to send donations of health products to Afghanistan, Venezuela, Lebanon and also to the French West Indies following the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. “We had three tonnes of medical products shipped to meet the emergency needs of the inhabitants of the devastated islands. This shipment was taken on board President Emmanuel Macron’s plane. It was quite special to be asked to help our compatriots in Saint-Martin. To be able to act quickly, we opened the warehouse on a Sunday morning so that the canteens could be collected, as the presidential plane was due to leave on Sunday evening”, recalls Anne Carpentier.
Working with the association’s volunteers
One of the tasks of the pharmacist in charge is also to supervise volunteers from partner healthcare companies. With the war in Ukraine, their mobilisation was particularly exceptional: “we welcomed and briefed the volunteers on the role of the Tulipe association. They then took charge of deactivating the boxes of medicines and removing them from stock. This was done in preparation for the days when the canteens were produced and sent to the humanitarian organisations”.
Among the tasks of the pharmacist in charge: supervising volunteers from healthcare companies
CSR: a double opportunity for healthcare companies
In recent years, healthcare companies have been investing more and more. This commitment has coincided with the rise of all the actions and initiatives linked to corporate social responsibility (CSR). “They have started to identify sectors in which they can make free donations for humanitarian purposes, and also offer manpower for voluntary work. The managers of these companies are very happy to contribute to improving the quality of care, whether by giving their employees time to volunteer so that they can get involved in concrete actions, or by donating medicines “, emphasises Anne Carpentier. Tulipe gives them this dual opportunity to get involved in humanitarian work and healthcare.
