When Bob Mehr cut a ribbon this week at his 15th pharmacy - a huge store in a Chilliwack mall - he wasn't just adding to his string of Pure Integrative Pharmacy locations.
He believes each Pure outlet that opens is a victory for better health.
Mehr sees his Pure locations as far removed from the typical modern pharmacy, where you are as likely to find the latest in electronics as find the tools to better health.
Mehr, whose first pharmacy opened in the Shawni-gan Lake area in 1999, hopes to make a difference for people who are becoming more involved in their personal healthcare.
"The concept from the beginning was to find balance - not just traditional medicine but complementary medicine and different approaches to health," Mehr said.
He owned a string of pharmacies under banners such as Pharmasave but had grown tired of the corporate approach to health care. "It wasn't fulfilling," Mehr said.
For Mehr, the answer to finding meaning in his work and to promote better overall health was in combining the best of traditional and alternative approaches to health. And to it under one roof.
"They wanted to take the best practices from conventional pharmacy and from homeopathy, naturopathy and remedies from all over the world [that have been] proven and trusted, and blend them together," said Marc Stoiber, the creative director and strategist working with Mehr and his partners on the design and concept behind Pure. Their focus is on encouraging wellness and curing sickness.
While patients can get their medication at Pure, they can also get an understanding of the underlying causes - the environmental and lifestyle factors that have played a part in their illness. With some guidance, Stoiber said, patients may be able to turn things around.
"Improving the lifestyle equation, I think, is the biggest departure from conventional pharmacy," Stoiber said.
Mehr tested the idea, which came with a new brand and location design, first in White Rock and then in two of his Pharmasave locations in Vancouver.
"The response was amazing," he said.
They also changed the atmosphere of the locations, making them more welcoming so that people would feel at ease instead of walking into an antiseptic pharmacy.
Pure also hired certified nutritionists, naturopathic health advisers and offered in-store seminars on health care issues.
Behind the scenes, leading practitioners from the medicinal, naturopathic ad homeopathic disciplines regularly exchange ideas on the issues of the day and on specific health-care concerns. "By doing that, you don't get a one-sided view, you get the whole 360degrees," said Stoiber. "It increases the knowledge base of all disciplines."
The result, Mehr hopes, is the establishment of a "hub of health," where patients feel confident in being able to get answers in a world of information overload. "In health care, we can't be egotistical and judgmental. We have to support proven therapies and have an open mind to others. Our role is to inspire our patients," said Mehr. "Our approach is preventative. If you can prevent health from getting to the point of needing therapy, we have done our job."
The approach has certainly appeared to be successful, spurring Mehr to convert his remaining Phar-masave locations to the Pure concept this fall. There are now six in Victoria, one on Salt Spring Island and eight on the Mainland.
Stoiber said part of that success is due to a confluence of factors.
"There's the silver tsunami of Baby Boomers who won't accept what doctors tell them ... and won't be satisfied with a pharmacist saying 'take two and call me in the morning.' They are looking for ways to stay in prime condition.
Then you have a demographic that is a little more into remedies that aren't conventional and then there's this alarming tendency where younger people are getting sicker more often," he said.
Combine that with delays in getting to see a doctor, and Stoiber said a hub like Pure becomes important for people who want to take health care into their own hands.
They may have more opportunity to do that as Mehr sees expansion in the future.
"The next step is making the foundation strong and concept solid," he said, noting they may approach other pharmacies to see if they want to be part of the group and adopt their concepts. "And acquisitions in the future are definitely on the table."
