New pharmacy and clinic a family affair

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This article was published 19/07/2017 (2974 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pair of local guys are hoping to provide friendly, familiar faces to health care on Gateway Road.

Pharmacists Raj Gill and Varinder Pandher opened the Gateway Pharmacy and Medical Clinic (#4 – 1115 Gateway Rd.) on June 24.

“We’re very involved in the local community,” Gill said. “Our gurudwara is Guru Nanak Darbar and its just on McLeod, across the street here.”

A graduate of the University of Manitoba Gill has been practising pharmacy for 15 years now, and owns another clinic across the city. He said he and his wife Rupinder have been looking to open a clinic back home in the northeast for years. Rupinder  and Pandher are cousins who both grew up in East Kildonan. Their families still live in the area.

“We had our grandma cut the ribbon and officially open the doors to Gateway Pharmacy,” Rupinder noted.

Gill and Pandher are actively looking for family and walk-in doctors to work out of the clinic.Gill hopes the clinic, which will soon be home to a lab as well, will be attractive to local residents who value building a relationship with their health care providers over time.

“I think it’s important to have that relationship,” he said. “It allows the customer to be more comfortable with you, to ask those personal questions.”

The one-stop-shop approach is one Gill believes will appeal to both those who are busy with young families and the area’s aging population.

“I think the need is there, and I hope the population will be supportive of us.”

Along with free delivery from the pharmacy, Gill will also be offering medicine reviews for clients.

“People can sit down with us and make sure their meds are all in sync,” he said. “We’re hoping to offer some service outside hours if someone can’t make it, so we can go in and visit with them as need be, within the area.”

Currently, the pharmacy and clinic are open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“We’re starting with hours we think will work, but we’ll adjust to what’s needed,” Gill said.

And although the pharmacy and clinic has only been open for a month, Gill and Pandher are hopeful that once word gets around, their personalized approach to patient care will catch on with the community.

“We’re from the community, we don’t have big shareholders,” Gill said. “Hopefully we can give back to the community in terms of service.”

Visit www.facebook.com/pharmacygateway for more information.

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