Health Comment

Brenda Adams

Health Comment

My pharmacy delivers vital health care services people here rely on. We help seniors stay healthy, people with chronic diseases stay out of hospital, and our diabetes educator helps people manage their disease.

We offer our patients the service of our nurse practitioner through our walk-in clinic. Our nurse practitioner helps customers who need prescription refills, who otherwise would have to wait weeks for a doctor’s appointment.

We provide a certified geriatric consultant pharmacist to the Long-term Care Facilities that we service,home visits to our patients who may be elderly or too ill to make it to out and a nutritional health specialist to advise on the safe use of nutritional supplements.

But the government is cutting $1 billion a year out of pharmacy funding, and my pharmacy won’t be able to deliver the same level of care and service. People won’t be able to talk to a pharmacist as easily, and there will be longer wait times for prescriptions. We may have to reduce our operating hours, and may have to lay off staff. Some community pharmacies will be forced to close.

This is a reckless, damaging attempt by the government to reduce its deficit on the backs of patients in Thunder Bay and across Ontario.