As a child I moved to Deep River in 1986 with my family. My father worked at AECL and my Mother ran 2 retail businesses in the area.
In high school I began moving towards the maths and sciences and followed my childhood dream of becoming a pharmacist. I saw Pharmacists as first-line health care professionals that were helping people daily, providing personal care and making a difference.
I attended McMaster University and then the University of Toronto, at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. Throughout my 4 years at the university of Toronto I worked at both Mount Sinai Hospital and St. Michael's Hospital as a student Pharmacy Technician gaining experience in all the technical aspects of hospital pharmacy including working in the sterile-prep room making IV bags.
After I graduated my 1st job was with Drugstore Pharmacy, Loblaw's pharmacy but I continued to work at St. Michael's as a part time pharmacist. Within 6 months I became the Pharmacy Manager at Drugstore Pharmacy giving me exposure to working with a head office.
After 1.5 years I left my position at St Micheal’s to focus on community pharmacy. I moved to Rexall and also started my own Locum Pharmacy Business filling gaps in Pharmacist staffing throughout Ontario community pharmacies. Through my work at these community pharmacies I started working in the field of Addiction Pharmacy. Working in various pockets of Toronto enabled me to better understand the pharmacy needs across a wide variety of age groups and cultures.
After getting married in 2004 an opportunity to return to Deep River as the Pharmacy Manger with Rexall presented itself in 2006. This allowed us to move back home and be closer to my parents and the community I grew up in. We wanted to have children and have them grow up in the caring community I had experienced while growing up in Deep River.
I was blessed with 2 children and stayed with Rexall while keeping up my Locum business. I was able to get to know the community through my day to day interactions and service both of our Long term care centres. In 2013, when Rexall left town I continued to work for Rexall in Petawawa and Pembroke and also took a full time maternity leave position at Pembroke Regional Hospital for 1 year working on the medical floors with the various teams. As term ended at the hospital, I was approached to transition to a Clinical Geriatric Pharmacist for a long-term care facility which I jumped at because of my love of this field. Similar to my role in hospital, this role allows me make a positive impact on residents’ lives.
I also took on a part time position at the Canadian Addiction Treatment Pharmacy in Pembroke, being certified through the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
The last 20 years has shown me how pharmacy can make a difference and that small communities such as Deep River have unique needs. With this in mind, and with the support and encouragement from community I am taking the leap and open my own pharmacy in Deep River. Mine is a fully independent pharmacy, not part of a franchise, doing it all on my own.
I will consistently be the pharmacist you see, living in the community, I will be able to relate to the community & their needs. I will offer a means to work around your hours. I have installed a prescription dropbox. If you are passing by the store on the way to work or after hours, you can drop the prescription paper into the box. We will get it the next business day, fill it and have it ready for you. Make sure you write you name , phone number and the doctors name clearly on the prescription.
As well as providing pharmacy services, I want to be able to make sure that my business is doing its part to minimize the impact I have on the environment.
For example, there is so much paper and plastic waste in the pharmacy industry. I have chosen to install a paperless pharmacy system. It works completely digitally. Also, I will be recycling all the bottles I can. You would think that all pharmacies recycle but there are very very few that do. I am using a blister packing system that is recyclable for the client as well. Also, if you have an ongoing prescription for a certain medication and you bring me the vial, I will reuse that bottle for you for that refill, as long as it is clean. I have been offering this to my clients for years now and it cuts down on hundreds and hundreds of plastic bottles going into the landfill and recycling bins. We will not have plastic bags at the store. Only paper bags.
I believe that Pharmacy is all about community, Deep River’s Pharmacy’s goal is to offer Pharmacy services to the community from someone who was raised by the community.
Nina Shah, B.Sc.Phm.
