Custom Content: Wholehealth expands to the east - Introducing Harrisville Pharmacy

Opening in late 2020, Harrisville Pharmacy is Wholehealth’s first pharmacy in Atlantic Canada – a combined pharmacy and home health & wellness centre serving the Moncton community. 

We spoke with owners Andrew Drover & Erin Drover of Moncton, New Brunswick  

Tell us about Harrisville Pharmacy 

We practise to our full scope, feature a large front store, and extensive home healthcare services, unique to the Moncton area. Erin, our home health care specialist, has fitting rooms for compression, mastectomy, and lactation consultations. We now have a dietitian who provides on-site consultations, with hopes to further develop a collaborative relationship with her. With multiple consultation rooms, we are set up to greet all Moncton patients during the pandemic. COVID has given us a slow start, but we are developing relationships with our patients and are very active on social media.

What is your background? 

Andrew managed a Sobeys Pharmacy for 11 years, held an operational role at Shoppers Drug Mart locations province-wide, is soon to be president of the New Brunswick Pharmacists Association, and holds captain rank in the Canadian Forces.

Erin has experience in pharmacy assistant roles, long-term care pharmacy and managerial positions in home healthcare. 

What’s different in pharmacy practice in New Brunswick vs. the rest of Canada? 

As of 2008, New Brunswick pharmacists can prescribe renewals, not as an extension or an adaptation, but as a new prescription, with no six-month supply limit. Since 2010, pharmacists can inject by intramuscular or subcutaneous route (e.g., Prolia, Depo Provera, B12) and are not limited by product or DIN. In 2014, our scope expanded to minor ailment prescribing for 34 indications.

Pharmacists can assess and prescribe for most vaccine-preventable diseases, including travel-related vaccines and prophylactic treatment. Unlike other healthcare professionals, pharmacists are not reimbursed for most clinical services, so clients must often pay out of pocket for pharmacist assessments for prescription renewals, minor ailments, and injections.

In 2020, the Government of New Brunswick announced plans to fund pharmacists’ assessments for prescription renewals and UTIs. While reimbursement for these services is not yet in place, we are optimistic that the government will follow through on their commitment.