harmacists in B.C. can write prescriptions for contraceptives and 21 minor ailments<\/a> such as acne, pinkeye, shingles and uncomplicated urinary tract infections.<\/p>\nDuring a press conference on Friday (Sept. 12) at the Shoppers Evergreen Mall location, David Markwell, president of Shoppers Drug Mart, said the clinics were designed with patients in mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Each of these clinics is equipped with dedicated examination rooms, allowing pharmacists to provide high-quality care for patients in a private setting. This setup ensures that pharmacists have the time and environment they need to assess each patient’s needs and deliver tailored services with extended hours of operation,” Markwell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Shoppers retail chain\u00a0launched its first Pharmacy Care Clinic in B.C. in\u00a0Kelowna\u00a0last year. Access to the clinics is free with a B.C. Service card.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jora Lidder, associate owner and pharmacist\u00a0at the Evergreen Mall location (8962 152nd St), was excited about\u00a0today’s announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’m proud to be a part of this milestone for our city and province, and I’m excited to see the differences these clinics will continue to make for our patients,” Lidder said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Pharmacists always want to do our part to help Canadians live life well, that’s Shoppers’ slogan, and we live by that, and we believe these clinics that are opening up are a step in the right direction to ease the burden and increase access to care for all Canadians,”\u00a0Lidder said.\u00a0“We\u00a0hope to increase access to care for patients so they can come to their pharmacy, receive care for minor elements that we can prescribe for that’s been afforded to us by a scope of practice, and we look forward to doing our part to alleviate the burdens of the health-care system,” Lidder said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Fleetwood clinic will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., but the retail store and pharmacy are open 24 hours, and there is a pharmacist on duty at all times, Lidder said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lidder said there are three takeaways\u00a0from today’s announcement \u2013 the first being that Shoppers Drug Mark is committed to helping Canadians “live life well and access health care for all,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second is that patients can be treated in a familiar place at their local pharmacy. When patients visit the clinic, they will check in with a care concierge to initiate the intake process before entering one of\u00a0three private consultation rooms for\u00a0on-the-spot prescriptions covering\u00a0certain ailments.<\/p>\n
The last takeaway is the convenience of the clinics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lidder told the story of a patient who visited their store last week after trying to see a doctor at a local clinic only to be turned away as they were at capacity. She then looked at the wait times of the emergency rooms, which stated it was a 10-\u00a0to 12-hour wait.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Then she frustratedly came to the pharmacy to see if we could help her. We gladly took her in, diagnosed her, prescribed her medications, and she was out the door. So that’s really one great example of how we can do our part to increase access to health care, and also we’ve prevented that emergency room visit and the burden on the financial system.”<\/p>\n
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke was excited that one of the seven new\u00a0locations of the pharmacy care clinics was in her neighbourhood of 43 years, as the\u00a0Evergreen Mall Shoppers\u00a0is one she has frequented many times over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“As\u00a0Surrey\u00a0continues to grow, access to health care is more important than ever,” said Locke. “These seven new clinics are improving access to care for residents, while helping ease pressure on emergency rooms and family doctors. Thank you to Shoppers Drug Mart for their commitment to our community and for helping to build a healthier future for\u00a0Surrey\u00a0residents.”<\/p>\n
Jagrup Brar, MLA for Surrey-Fleetwood, said he was happy to see one of the clinics open in his constituency of Fleetwood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“This initiative will enhance access to timely, community-based health care and support the wellbeing of families across\u00a0Surrey. It’s encouraging to see partnerships like this bringing innovative services closer to home,” Brar said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The seven Pharmacy Care Clinics at Shoppers Drug Mart in Surrey\u00a0are located at:<\/p>\n
\n\t7538 120th Street,\u00a0Surrey, BC, V3W 3N1
\n\t18677 Fraser Hwy,\u00a0Surrey, BC, V3S 8E7
\n\t5157 56 Avenue, Unit 100,\u00a0Surrey, BC, V3S 9A5
\n\t15691 104th Ave,\u00a0Surrey, BC, V4N 2H4
\n\t8962 152nd Street,\u00a0Surrey, BC, V3R 4E4
\n\t2830 96th Avenue,\u00a0Surrey, BC, V3V 6A8
\n\t7322 King George Blvd,\u00a0Surrey, BC, V3W 5A5
<\/p>\n
The eighth location is at the Shoppers Drug Mart at\u00a07322 King George Blvd.\u00a0Surrey, BC V3W 5A5<\/p>\n
See shoppersdrugmart.ca for more.<\/p>\n
\u00a0-With files from Tom Zillich<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven pharmacy care clinics officially opened inside Shoppers Drug Mart retail stores across Surrey on Friday (Sept. 12).\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-141842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}