Protesting PKA: Rally Just Days Before Retirement
46-Year Pharmacy Career Ends as Birgit Bischoff Retires at 63
Berlin – Pharmacy technician Birgit Bischoff stands on the brink of a milestone: This coming Thursday will mark her final day as an employee at Fackeltor Pharmacy in Kaiserslautern—after which, at 62, she will begin her retirement. Yet on Monday, she joined her boss at a protest in Düsseldorf to advocate for the future of community pharmacies, seeing it as a matter of course. "The pharmacy must carry on," she emphasizes.
46 Years in the Pharmacy
Bischoff has worked in pharmacies for 46 years, spending the last 30 as a trained pharmacy assistant supporting Julia Bark's team at Fackeltor Pharmacy. Her final workweek began with the Düsseldorf demonstration, where she and her colleagues rallied at Burgplatz on Monday. "It was only natural for me to be there. I did it for my coworkers, too," she says. For her, participation is simply "common decency."
She started her apprenticeship in 1980 and has worked in pharmacies ever since. At Fackeltor, she found a special sense of belonging, primarily handling accounting and billing. "We're an incredible team," she says. "The work is especially rewarding—many of us have been here for years. If it weren't for the team, I wouldn't have stayed." Even the pharmacy's takeover by Bark a decade ago was a positive experience. "She brought fresh energy."
Alongside her boss in Düsseldorf, Bischoff once again showed that pharmacy staff stand firmly behind their employers—and earned applause for it. Bark calls her the "hero of the day," especially since she'll retire in just a few days. "Getting up at 7 a.m. to travel four hours by bus to Düsseldorf, standing shoulder to shoulder with her colleagues to raise their voices—Birgit didn't hesitate for a second."
Boss Thanks Longtime Pharmacy Technician
Bark expresses her gratitude for Bischoff's support and grows sentimental at the thought of Thursday's farewell: "How will we manage without her infectious laughter, her creativity, her sense of responsibility, her elegance, her integrity, and her genuine compassion? No one on the team can quite imagine it. And there will certainly be tears when we embrace after locking the pharmacy door for the last time on her final day." But that, she says, is how community pharmacies work: "We work together, we laugh and cry together, we celebrate together, and we fight together."
Bischoff is looking forward to retirement, which officially begins on Friday—her 63rd birthday. She plans to spend more time with her husband and care for her elderly parents. Her advice to younger colleagues? Pharmacy technicians should save extra for retirement. "I'll receive two good insurance payouts, and we rent out a property. Without that, living on a pension of around €1,400 a month would be tight."
Still, she encourages anyone considering the field to choose community pharmacies. "The job is wonderful and varied." Unlike in the past, she notes, there are now better opportunities for further training and specialization. If she could do it over, she might have become a pharmacy technician (PTA). But for now, retirement awaits.
