‘We just started it’: Southampton pharmacy opens orphan patient clinic

A Southampton pharmacy has opened an orphan patient clinic in their pharmacy. With more, here’s CTV London’s Scott Miller.

For the past two years, Waldemar Janowski and his wife, Wieslawa, have been without a family doctor.

“And even before that, it was very hard to see the doctor. Most of the time, we would see a nurse practitioner that worked for him,” said Wieslawa.

But, that changed last month, when Kristen Watt opened an orphan patient clinic inside her Southampton pharmacy.

“It’s just a blessing for us, truly. You’ll make an appointment, and you’ll be done within a half an hour. Before we found this orphan clinic, we had to got to the local hospital just to get prescriptions filled, and we’d wait six hours. The second time, it was five hours. It was a very stressful process,” said Wieslawa.

Watt, who is Vice Chair of the Ontario Pharmacist’s Association, says there are at least 4000 Saugeen Shores residents with no doctor at all, or doctors in distant cities, like Toronto. She said she isn’t aware of any other Ontario pharmacies hosting orphan patient clinics, within their stores.

“We just started it. There is no ministry funding for it. We just decided that it was something that we could do to get patients in through the door and get people seen,” said Watt.

The retired physician seeing patients at the Watt’s orphan patient clinic, has seen about 100 patients, since the first clinic on Sept. 29. The pharmacy has held four clinic days so far, with at least two more, scheduled before the end of the year.

“Patients are coming back multiple times. We’re triaging with them. We’re also doing a lot of work behind the scenes in the pharmacy, recommending therapy for the patients before they see the physician, following up on their bloodwork, making sure their referrals are going through, things like that,” says Watt.

For the Janowski’s, the clinic has been vital. One-stop healthcare shopping, they say.

“It’s almost like, a family atmosphere. They really go out of their way, to try to help you out. You know, with things like reading of results, or proposing different alternatives for your health issues,” says Waldemar.

“She already told me the results of my blood test. She already took care of my prescription. Everything in one spot, with a really nice atmosphere, and security for us,” said Wieslawa.

Watt says she thinks her orphan patient clinic in Southampton can serve as a model for other Ontario pharmacies, and could serve as a gateway to allow pharmacists to prescribe and treat even more ailments for their patients.

“About a third of the patients that we’re seeing come through this clinic are looking for things like prescription renewals or bloodwork that pharmacists are trained to understand, interpret and to adjust medications, based on. So, we’d really like to be able to do that for the patients, even if we didn’t have a doctor on site on any particular day,” said Watt.

But until that happens, orphan patients like the Janowski’s have a place to go, in Southampton. You can learn more about Kristen’s Pharmacy Orphan Patient Clinic at Orphan Patient Clinic — Kristen’s Pharmacy.