UVic Picks Best Pharmacies For Seniors

No matter what your health is like, everyone uses a pharmacy. But which pharmacy in the Capital Regional District is the best for seniors?

That’s what the University of Victoria’s Centre on Aging (COAG) asked CRD residents in 2008. It received 69 nominations for its 2008 “Senior Friendly Business Award” (SFBA)—an annual award honouring businesses that provide the most friendly high-quality services and facilities to customers 55 years of age or better—and picked two winners.

The winner of the Senior Friendly Business 2008 Chain Pharmacy Award is the Shoppers Drug Mart in Langford’s Westshore Town Centre. The winner of the Senior Friendly Business 2008 Franchise Pharmacy Award is Pharmasave in Brentwood Bay. To determine the recipients the SFBA evaluation committee reviewed the nominations and then visited each store in its list of six finalists.

“The Shoppers Drug Mart was impressive,” says SFBA committee chair Elmer Berlie. “First of all, the parking was perfect as was the access to Shoppers. We walked into the store…and it was awe-inspiring. Each section was marked high on the walls in large scroll writing and you could pick the aisles you wanted to visit just from standing in this one spot. We toured the store and it was perfect.”

The committee was equally impressed when it visited the Pharmasave in Brentwood Bay.

“The Pharmasave was ideally suited to meet the needs of its small community,” recalls Berlie. “While the store was small, it was well laid out with sections for nearly all the goods and services found in the larger stores. The store’s excellent pharmacy section had space for private discussion with the pharmacist, and apparatus for blood sugar and blood pressure testing. The store is open every day of the week.”

The two winners will be presented with plaques and Senior Friendly Business Award decals this week. March 1 through March 7 is Pharmacist Awareness Week in Canada.
 

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