Sign up for the paNOW newsletter

Lending Hope in Healthcare

Sep 18, 2017 | 12:00 AM

Looking to expand care to the community Medi-Center Pharmacy has opened a new location downtown called Hope Health Pharmacy.

With a desire to bring patients hope while dealing with their difficult healthcare needs, the new downtown facility will bring convenient healthcare centre and pharmacy resources within steps of many patient’s homes.

The facility has been designed to act as an inclusive environment to offer progressive, modern health care solutions for all people of Prince Albert and area. The pharmacy, much like their Medi-Centre Pharmacy that has served the city and region for over 29 years, has partnered with Dr. Maya and Dr. Egbeyemi who have over 15 years of experience providing various capacities like advocating, family medicine and delivering babies, to name a few.

With a philosophy centred around personalized care and working closely with physicians, Hope Health Pharmacy allows patients a one-stop location to have all their health care needs addressed.

“I always kind of try to maintain a small town philosophy in the city,” says owner and pharmacist Lorelei Miller.

“We want patients to recognize us and know that we are part of the team and we care about their needs. Our philosophy is to answer the phone, not press one for this department and two for here. We really want it to be much more connected.”

The pharmacists are always ready to lend a hand where ever and when ever they can. And to do so, they have employed a broad scope of highly skilled pharmacists who rotate between the Hope Health Pharmacy and Medi-Center Pharmacy to accommodate patients needs at their utmost convenience.

On staff are a number of pharmacists with a deep knowledge and passion for numerous specialities. This includes a certified respiratory educator, geriatric pharmacist, a diabetic pharmacist and diabetic educator alongside compound pharmacists and technicians, among others.

“They are all here and they want to help out,” pharmacist Bhavin Patel says.

“I like people getting better. People come to us because they are sick and people like to get good service when they are sick. I want to give more services to people so they come back. We want to see everybody healthy.”

And this personalized care can be seen when Patel and others assist patients and strive to know each on a first name basis.

“If I walk in somewhere and people know my name, that is a big thing. It is just easy for them to come in and get the prescription when I know everything about them,” Patel added. “When you are dealing with a pharmacy that knows you, it is a nice thing.”

Hope Health Pharmacy also provides plenty of modern amenities like home delivery twice a day. And with the pharmacy just steps away from the doctor’s door, patients can expect to have their prescriptions filled within minutes and never have to leave the location.

But Hope Health Centre and Pharmacy understands healthcare is about more than just a pill or a doctors visit.

“It is a whole philosophy of caring about the whole person, their nutrition and anything else important to them,” Miller added. “We are about helping the patient at whatever level they need.”

For things like taking extra time to research additional information, with the quantity and quality of staff, Hope Health Pharmacy can step back and source special information for patients and are always open to questions and people asking for special requests.

“We try and be their community partner in health care,” Miller added.

The pharmacy also engages in charity work and community fundraising, all in an effort to give back to the place they each call home.

More information on Hope Health Pharmacy and Medi-Centre Pharmacy can be found online at www.medicenterpharmacy.ca.