Meet Our Sponsors - Vital Health Pharmacy

Vital Pharmacy is a recent CW sponsor, so it was with interest that we recently interviewed one of the owners, Don Swainson.

CW: What is Vital Health Pharmacy all about? "Vital Health Pharmacy is a new kind of pharmacy, specializing in health needs solely (versus being a "general store" pharmacy, as many pharmacies have become).  We try to get to know our clients really well.  We provide a full range of pharmacy services from vitamins and nutrition supplements (20% off if you mention CW), to the filling and free delivery of prescriptions, to nutrition counselling and vaccinations, to complex care services such as diabetes education, IV infusions and teaching patients to self administer injectable medications with specialized nurses.  There are five individuals who make up our "core" group.  Jonathan Cox is our pharmacist, Don is the pharmacy assistant, Amy is our dietician and we have two specialized nurses, Mary and Charlene.

CW: As a new supporter but a long time member, just what is your history with CW? Don joined CW in 1989 when the merger was in full swing.  Jim Wenman was coaching in 1989, Alun Rees in 1990, and the standard of rugby was very good.  Gareth Rees, Jim & Len Carson, Spencer Robinson (among other celebrities), were all playing with the club at that time. It wasn't long before Don left for Toronto with work, although he stayed involved with rugby  with the Balmy Beach club and ultimately coached at Highland Rugby in Fergus, Ontario and with the Rugby Ontario's junior program. Partner, Jon, was also involved with rugby as a junior Barbarian at Oak Bay HS and then he decided to focus on his schooling and career as a pharmacist!

CW: What are your reasons for this new support?  "A big part of starting a new business is about getting the word out, so we need to spend some money on advertising. The fact that we can combine some advertising and support CW at the same time, made this sponsorship opportunity an easy one to say, "yes" to. However, ultimately, pharmacy is a trust-based business, so just knowing about us isn't enough. We hope that through this kind of article and sponsorship, people will see what we are and who we are, and give us a try. It is easy to switch pharmacies, people just need to tell us they are willing to. We deliver at no charge and our prices are competitive, which matters to a great number of folk."