Pharmacy offering walk-in clinic with on-site doctors

LEAMINGTON — Jessica Hanna is happy to be working back in this area.

The Leamington-born pharmacist and her husband Lamar, have recently opened the Leamington Princess Pharmacy in the Central 33 building on Princess Street in Leamington. Both obtained their Doctor of Pharmacy degrees at Wayne State University.

With that venture, the Hannas are also offering the Central Erie Shores Walk-in Clinic, complete with on-site physicians.

“We feel there’s a gap in Leamington and we’re happy to provide this service,” said Jessica. “This will help take some of the load off the local emergency room.”

For Jessica, it’s a return to her roots.

“My first job ever was in this space here at the pharmacy,” she said.

The staff of Leamington Princess Pharmacy, from left, are Lamar Hanna, Pharm.D., Bessy Ramos, Ashley Medeiros, Natalie Morse and Jessica Hanna, Pharm.D. The pharmacy has opened up in the Central 33 building (Princess Centre) and is also the home to the Central Erie Shores Walk-in Clinic.

The pharmacy is now open Monday and Wednesday 9am to 7pm; Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday from 9am to 3pm. They hope to be open seven days a week soon.

The walk-in clinic hours are Monday and Wednesday from 1pm to 7pm and Saturday 9am to 3pm. Starting June 1, the clinic will add Friday from 12pm to 6pm as well.

The pharmacy is set up on the ground floor where the previous pharmacy and walk-in clinic was and fills a gap left with the passing of Dr. Chaloub.

“Since Dr. Chaloub’spassing, Leamington hasn’t had a walk-in clinic with a doctor on site,” she says.

The clinic will have local physicians and nursing staff on site during the clinic’s open hours. They also have a physician, Dr. Bayley, setting up his practice there. The pharmacy is staffed with local people who will be familiar faces to previous customers, including Pharmacist Natalie Morse, who specializes in functional medicine.

The Hannas are not new to the pharmacy business. They are part of the Main Street Pharmacy in Kingsville as well as three other pharmacies in Sarnia, for which they’ve won multiple awards for innovation.

They’ve set up the new pharmacy with less retail space and more of a medically-based layout, with two doctor suites and the walk-in clinic being the prime focus, and the pharmacy supplyingmuch-needed prescriptions.

They have strict COVID-19 protocols in place for the safety of themselves and their customers.

Patients practicing social distancing will be directed to the walk-in clinic window, where they will answer some questions and present their Ontario Health Card. The waiting room floor is taped off for social distancing and all waiting room chairs are disinfected and spaced out to accomodate proper protocol and measures.

“It will help patients have confidence that they can safely visit us and use our services,” she said

They provide regular updates on their Facebook page, as the world changes constantly with the COVID-19 pandemic. You can find them at www.facebook.com/ leamingtonprincesspharmacy.

The pharmacy offers specialty compounding and diabetic education services, and have staff that can speak Spanish and Arabic.

“We feel it’s important to communicate with the entire community,” Jessica says.