Pivot Rx in downtown Vernon offers private consultation rooms at patient-focused pharmacy

Photo: Jon Manchester

A new pharmacy has opened its doors in downtown Vernon.

Although a global pandemic was not part of the plan, Pivot Rx co-owners – and husband-wife duos – Logan McNeil and Sana Shahram, and Josh Brady and Claire Ishoy took a leap of faith.

“Community pharmacies have been the backbone of the COVID-19 community health-care response in Canada,” pharmacist McNeil, says. “While businesses and physician offices rapidly transitioned to virtual delivery as able, pharmacies remained on the front line for in-person community care.”

McNeil and Brady previously both worked in pharmacy franchises in the Okanagan. 

“The pandemic highlighted the central role of community pharmacies in providing equitable and essential access to health-care services,” says Brady, who is also a pharmacist. “But it also highlighted the need for a pharmacy model that can harness the full scope of services that pharmacists can provide their patients and community, while being ready to adapt to shifting circumstances and health priorities.”

Ishoy is a clinical pharmacist, while Shahram is a health systems researcher.

“Opening during the pandemic forced us to dig deeper and build a thoughtful pharmacy model that fills some of the gaps the crisis exposed,” said Ishoy. “We’ve designed Pivot Rx around patient access to their pharmacist and all the community health-care support they can provide to help take the load off of acute-care services.”

From private consultation rooms to personalized care plans, the venture strives to deliver "luxury care at a value price."

?"Your doctor wouldn’t speak to you in the waiting room – neither should your pharmacist," the partners say.

The 30th Avenue pharmacy is open seven days a week.