Today is World Pharmacists Day and I decided to take this opportunity to brag about our Pharmacist/Owner, Mike. Lakeside Pharmacy was opened because we noticed that people in North Okanogan County had limited options for pharmacies. Many people were traveling hours to have their prescriptions filled! We recognized that Oroville would be an excellent location for a pharmacy that accepted most insurances, offered hard to beat cash prices and had friendly, honest service. Mike is the center of that service we provide. He will go out of his way to help our customers because that is the type of person he is. Our cash prices are tough to beat because we try to save our neighbors money. We know what it's like to live on a budget and people shouldn't have to choose between their prescriptions or food. If there is a way we can save you money, we will do it.

Mike has been a pharmacist for 18 years and is knowledgable on how the pharmacy world operates. He continuously looks for more ways we can serve our community in North Okanogan County. If there is something we can do that would be helpful for you, we will look into providing that service. Since we've opened, Mike has worked hard to help us get contracts with as many insurances as possible so that people don't have to

travel hours to get their prescriptions. After we first opened, a customer came in to the pharmacy and had an insurance that we had not been aware of. Mike took the information down, contacted the insurance and was able to get a contract with that company. Earlier this summer, Mike knew he wanted to provide Immunizations. So, he started working on getting protocol in place. After months of hard work, we had protocol in place and a contract with Medicare Part B so that we could provide Immunizations to our neighbors.

A great pharmacist will look for opportunities to serve his patients and help them stay healthy. Mike has helped people sync their medications so that they only have to make 1 trip to the pharmacy each month for their maintenance medications. He also helps many of our customers by providing bubble packing service. Bubble packs help to organize a person's medications which is helpful for our customers who live in assisted living facilities or who take multiple medications each day. The plastic bubbles are on one card and Mike fills each bubble with the medications a customer takes based on the time of day they are taken. People can have multiple cards (morning, lunch, night) or just one card if they take all of their pills once daily. It takes some time to put the bubble packs together, but Mike decided to offer this service for FREE because he knew it would help our customers.

There are many nights when Mike arrives home late because he delivers medications to people. We currently live in Tonasket, so we offer to deliver to people in Oroville and Tonasket because we know life can get busy. Mike also spends time volunteering in our community too. Two evenings of each week, he and our daughter volunteer at NO Paws and have been doing so for a few years. We also volunteer at the Senior Center breakfasts and are part of the Okanogan Valley Lion's Club. This leaves Mike with very little free time, but he loves what he does. He loves owning his own pharmacy and being able to help the people in our community.

We constantly have people tell us that the opening of Lakeside Pharmacy has changed their lives by saving them time, money or both. They love seeing a friendly face and know they can trust Mike. And this is exactly why we opened Lakeside Pharmacy, so that we could make a difference in peoples' lives.

Thank you Mike for all you do each day!