Customers needed more from their health care providers, particularly those on the front line such as pharmacists, and this was especially true in smaller centres where other health care specialists are often under-represented. Dodge, who received his pharmacy degree from the University of Manitoba in 1974, broke the problem into two steps. Both included physical changes to the pharmacy as well as changes in services. You have to take the time with patients on every prescription, and build up the relationship. Dodge is enthusiastic about how his 'step-one' renovations to the pharmacy have changed patient behaviour and attitudes.
Conversations flow easily on both sides of the counter, which was locally designed and built.
Customers in wheelchairs can also roll right up to, and partly beneath, a section of the counter that slides like a table on wheels. The pick-up area houses a patient information library and is large enough for a wheelchair, but it doesn't include chairs. The presence of chairs may also be a deterrent to shy or time-pressed customers. In the summer of 1996, Dodge and partner Pasin completed the step-two renovations, which was primarily the creation of a completely private room at the other end of the dispensary. Pharmacists as well as visiting specialists schedule appointments in the room.