A Healthy Business
Dr. Hajra Mirza opened the Rossmere Pharmacy in North Kildonan in 2005. “Fate brought me here,” she says. Balancing both her entrepreneurial side with her calling as a health-care provider, she did her research on the Henderson Highway location, and decided the presence of nearby corporate pharmacies didn’t deter her. “The area was missing an independent pharmacy that would focus on patient care, and I knew there were people who would need a medication management program that I could provide.”
The desire to open her own pharmacy was strong because Dr. Mirza wanted to address gaps in the health-care delivery system, where, for example, patients might have questions about their health that can’t be answered in a 15-minute appointment with their doctor. She says it’s also about being a link between the patient and the health-care provider. “Sometimes people are knocking on doors, switching doctors, switching pharmacies, trying to get the information they need,” says Dr. Mirza. One educational gap is to inform patients about programs from associations like the Canadian Cancer Society and Osteoporosis Canada that can help the patient, even providing financial support for the medications they need to purchase. Dr. Mirza also educated herself about mental health so she could help patients, trying to fill yet another gap.
“When it comes to balancing the line between providing health care and keeping the pharmacy profitable – or at least sustainable – I tend to come down on the side of providing health care,” Dr. Mirza says.
One way the pharmacy tries to solve customer’s problems is to offer free home delivery to patients who need it, typically seniors who might not be mobile or might not be feeling well that day. “It can be hard for people to get here in the winter with the snow,” she says. “But also in the summer when it’s hot, some patients might get dehydrated walking here on a really hot day.” To further accommodate, the pharmacy offers after-hours care in the form of a phone line for patients who might have urgent questions about their medications for an on-call pharmacist to answer. Patients also sometimes contact the pharmacy via their Facebook page.
As a small business owner, Dr. Mirza keeps a close eye on the pharmacy’s financial health. To address another underserved health-care gap, she invited a nurse practitioner to open a clinic in the pharmacy. Patients pay a fee out of pocket (it’s not covered by Manitoba Health) when they consult with the nurse practitioner at the pharmacy, in a house call, or in a virtual consult. “One time a patient who had already been waiting in the emergency room for three hours asked if I could help. From the time he reached out to me, to when the nurse practitioner consulted with him, to when we made a delivery of the medication, it took an hour and 45 minutes,” says Dr. Mirza: quick when compared to the time already spent waiting. Dr. Mirza says the best part of her work is helping to keep her patients happy and healthy. “When they hug me,” she says. “Then you can really see in their eyes that you have made a difference.”
Photos by Mark Tabaquero
