A grand opening to celebrate

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This article was published 19/07/2023 (835 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

These pills might pay for someone’s Christmas dinner.

They’re dispensed into vials behind the doors of Shawano Pharmacy. Eventually, the medications might end up on a plane to Berens River or Bloodvein. Other bottles will stay in Winnipeg, bought by residents near and far from the 2521 McPhillips St. hub.

Profits from the medication will plump the wallets of eight First Nations owning Shawano Pharmacy, along with communities who use its services.

“Enough of the dependency (on government),” said Doug Mercer, executive director of the Southeast Resource Development Council, which the eight First Nations make up. “We can do this ourselves, and we’re proving it.”

He stood outside the pharmacy, which held its grand opening Tuesday. It’s roughly 10,000 sq. ft. and cost $700,000 to build, said Ali Reyhany, a consultant and project partner.

Shawano Pharmacy has operated for five years. However, it was previously in a Broadway space one-fifth of the size that was “busting at the seams,” Reyhany described.

He owns Care Pharmacies, Canada’s largest independent pharmacy chain. He first met with Mercer around six years ago.

“Nobody was really looking at (First Nations communities’) adherence,” Reyhany said. “They were shipping meds into the communities but not looking to see if they were being taken.”

He’d noticed, while building his business, a lack of pharmacists’ presence in remote communities. Black River First Nation’s chief told the Free Press members would be prescribed several medications without knowing how the pills would mix or affect them.

Meantime, the Southeast Resource Development Council was scouting business opportunities. The goal is to be self-reliant using revenue from business and owned property, Mercer said.

Southeast Resource Development Council owns a plethora of properties, including South Beach Casino; The Players Course, a golf site in northwest Winnipeg; and the former grocery store Neechi Commons, which it’s changing into an office for Shawenim Abinooji, a not-for-profit organization.

The First Nations group decided to create a pharmacy — Shawano Pharmacy — with Reyhany. They spent around $1 million in start-up costs over the first couple of years, Reyhany said.

Funds from other Southeast Resource Development Council ventures and investment from Reyhany contributed to the start-up. Reyhany said he’s not taking a cut of the First Nations’ pharmacy’s revenue.

“Two years (in), we didn’t fill one prescription. (The) whole pharmacy was sitting in our hands,” Reyhany said. “It was hard.”

Remote communities already had medication suppliers. Still, eventually, communities began to buy in to Shawano.

“We had to demonstrate that we could service the communities,” Reyhany said.

Once a community presence was established, the federal government signed contracts with Shawano, Reyhany said.

Now, Shawano Pharmacy services the First Nations of Bloodvein, Berens River, Poplar River, Little Grand Rapids and Pauingassi — all Southeast Resource Development Council members. The First Nations of Black River, Brokenhead and Hollow Water are also council members.

Pharmacy profits flow into expanding the business, and back to the First Nations founders. Communities that use Shawano’s services get a rebate, Reyhany added.

Around $275,000 was distributed among the eight owner First Nations last year, Mercer said.

Black River First Nation put its money towards hampers and Christmas dinners in each of its 176 homes, said Chief Sheldon Kent. Some funds went to children’s Christmas presents, he added.

“The revenue we’re generating is helping,” he said. “We want to continue to keep that growth… for our next generations.”

Some First Nations spent money on funerals in their communities, according to Mercer. He and Reyhany believe the current profits are small, given the start-up costs and the new Winnipeg location.

“We’re not fully at our peak yet, so you can imagine these amounts over 10, 20, 30 years,” Reyhany said. “This will be multi-millions (of) dollars going back into the community.”

The pharmacy tycoon called Shawano Pharmacy “the thing I’m most proud of, because of the lasting impact it will have.”

Shawano Pharmacy ships medicines and medical items to remote communities via vehicle and airplane.

The company’s biggest cost is air travel, Reyhany said. He didn’t have a statistic for flight expenses but said it was, annually, a six-figure fee.

He envisions drone usage in the future: loading packages in Winnipeg and flying them straight to remote communities.

“The range on some of them are not there yet, so we’re waiting,” Reyhany said, adding he believes “it’s not that far away.”

He’s also planning for telehealth screens in First Nation health centres, where patients can interact virtually with pharmacists based in Winnipeg.

Shawano Pharmacy has community workers who deliver medication to First Nation members and have “one-on-one relationships with people,” said Solmaz Nafez, Shawano Pharmacy’s pharmacy manager.

She’ll be stationed at the new McPhillips Street location, along with 14 staff. The pharmacy is open to all people with immunization, prescription drop-off and over-the-counter services. Shawano Pharmacy delivers throughout Winnipeg.

The Southeast Resource Development Council is renovating Shawano Pharmacy’s former 360 Broadway location into offices.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com