New owner and walk-in clinic at Pharmasave Bolton

Written by: JOSHUA SANTOS

Mona Nasiri loves helping people overcome any impediments with the right medications.

“When I get that phone call of ‘thank you so much for helping me,' it makes my day,” said Nasiri. “It keeps me going, and I have a lot of those patients. I'm very lucky.”

The pharmacist is the new operating partner of Pharmasave Bolton, located at 8 Queen St. N in downtown. She bought into the store late last year

“I came to Bolton, for a part-time position or a full-time position because I had spoken with Pharmasave and I really liked what they had to offer, as a banner company,” said Nasiri. “They were very supportive, they were very helpful in guiding me and I really knew I wanted to start getting into the Pharamasave world and be associated with that company, so I thought, let me apply to a Pharamasave and see where I can get with that. I walked into Bolton, on one faithful day and I got the job.”

When November of 2018 came around, the current business partner said they wanted an operating partner and asked if she was interested in investing in the store. It was a no brainer for her to contribute even more.

“I loved the area, I love Pharamasave, the pharmacy was beautiful, I connected with a lot of patients here,” said Nasiri.

Nasri went to pharmacy school in the United States as a Canadian citizen. She moved to Albany New York enrolling at Albany College of Health Sciences where she completed her pharmacy schooling there.

“I did five years,” said Nasiri. “I specialized in research actually, in infectious diseases, HIV, hepatitis C, that was my area. I decided to come back home to Canada. My family was here and so when I came back in 2015, I got licensed in Ontario and I'm also licensed in Michigan in the U.S. as well.”

Before this, she received an undergraduate degree of Kinesiology in Health Sciences at York University.

One of the first changes she made was bring in a new walk-in clinic to the pharmacy. They use telemedicine, in partnership with Good Doctors Medical Clinics to help their clients.

“You'll have somebody on site who's going to take your vitals, do the assessment

and ask you questions on what your ailments are,” said Nasiri. “They'll collect and present it

to a physician who is on the screen. This physician is a licensed Ontario doctor. The neat thing about our set up is our person, who is taking the assessment, is an international medical graduate. He is a doctor by training and he knows what doctors will ask for ahead. If a prescription is required, it'll be the physician on screen who will write the prescription.”

Good Doctors believes in providing health care to every Ontario where and when they need it through virtual care. This makes accessing health care more convenient, minimizes time spent traveling and provides better support for people living with chronic diseases, according to their website.

Doctors will be able to help those with a cough, runny nose, a sore throat or even pain when urinating, if they suspect they have a urinary tract infection.

“They can definitely help you or refill your prescriptions if you don't have time to see your doctor, but they do not do narcotics or controlled substances, like most walk-in clinics,” said Nasiri.

“We decided to partner with Good Doctors mainly because the feedback we heard from a lot of the population, especially in our surrounding areas, is there are very long wait times,” said Nasiri. “On average, our wait time is about 30 minutes to see the doctor in and out. It's very quick and very fast. We are open most days of the week. The hours are similar to our own store hours.”

Her team wanted to open walk in clinic but found it hard to bring a doctor to the town. They figured it would be a lot easier to have a doctor on screen.

“We thought what was he best we can deliver this service, to the people of Bolton, and it was to have this process, to partner up with Good Doctors,” Nasiri said. “It's been quite a hit up north, with even less doctors out there, but there are locations in Mississauga, Etobicoke, closer to the GTA area.”

Prior to working with Pharmasave, Nasiri admits that she worked for their competitors, part-time at multiple locations across the GTA. She would then work for an adjudicator insurance provider as a full-time job. 

“I was a clinical pharmacist there, and I was in the special authorizations department,” Nasiri said. “When people wanted high cost medication, or more premium cost drugs, I was the unfortunate person who had to say no you can't have it. That ate up at me inside because I got into pharmacy to help people and I had to be that person that said, ‘sorry, you can't have this', when I knew deep down, people needed it.

She says she tries to use what she learned, with the adjudicator, to help her patients cover the cost of their medications.

“In the Pharmasave world, adherence and compliance is really huge,” said Nasiri. “One huge barrier though, is cost. Patients can't afford it. I try my best to find ways where they can try to get coverage. I educate my senior patients as well, because a lot of them don't know if you make less than a certain amount of money, you can get your copayment and deductible waived. I print out the forms for them, so they can go about and try to get that.”

She loves her staff at Pharmasave noting that they're very supportive. She tries to make it seem like they are a family at the store.

“My staff is very important to me,” said Nasiri. “I try my best to treat them as well as I can. When I hire pharmacists, in case I can't be here, my staff and how they feel about that pharmacist is very important to me because with happy staff, comes happy patients.”