Danielle Thomas, Rx2018 - Thunder Bay
Navigating the region
Thunder Bay is beautiful 鈥 even the air just feels so much more clean, my lungs loved it. Getting to come here

If you enjoy the outdoors, this is the region for you. My fellow classmates and I came into Thunder Bay with a checklist of things we wanted to do, and we did pretty near all of them. There are lots of hiking trails around such as Sleeping Giant Provincial Park 鈥 an exhausting hike that I would recommend doing before it gets too hot as it is quite a long hike, Mt. McKay, Ouimet Canyon, Kakabeka Falls and Marina Park down at the waterfront just to name a few.

Festivals 鈥 blues fest, beer fest, festival of India (free) 鈥 get tickets fast, they all sell out. I wasn鈥檛 able to go to any of these, but have heard they are a great time.
There is also a ton of good restaurants in Thunder Bay. A favourite of ours was The Tomlin which even though is a bit more expensive, the food was incredible. There鈥檚 also other good, more affordable places like The Sovereign Room, Red Lion Smokehouse, Daytona鈥檚, Thai Kitchen, and this dive place that became a favourite of ours called Carrie鈥檚 Corner 鈥 it has the best onion rings I鈥檝e ever had. We used Friday nights to try new places to eat and were never disappointed. Don鈥檛 waste your time with chain restaurants and take the time to try these unique restaurants.
It is possible to use transit, but I would recommend the car. I have heard from many in the region that the public transportation is unreliable. That is not to be said that it can鈥檛 be done. Nothing in Thunder Bay is farther than 15 minutes by car, so it's nice that all your rotation sites are close to one another.
Uber has yet to come to Thunder Bay, but they have an app similar call uRide that I would recommend

It鈥檚 hard for those in southern Ontario not from the area to know what鈥檚 a good area to live in. We鈥檙e also a little too far to go for an apartment viewing. Reach out to Angela, the Regional Clinical Coordinator. She knows of past students who have open rooms for students and may be able to help guide you towards a safer area.
I have only had positive experiences with the Regional Clinical Coordinator, Angela. She was always checking in to see how things were going, arranged a few dinners for us and an IPE event at the hospital and did her best to ensure we had a good time in Thunder Bay. She also surveys you to find out your interests and really tries to cater towards that. I鈥檝e also seen what she has in the works for the new students, and she really wants everyone to have a unique experience.聽
Practice site聽descriptions
Academy Pharmacy 鈥 independent pharmacy located within a physician鈥檚 office and walk-in clinic. At the pharmacy, I had the opportunity to check prescriptions, counsel on new medications, perform medication reviews, INR tests, dispense methadone and suboxone. I also had the opportunity to do pre-screening for the walk-in clinic and family physician to gather information about the patient鈥檚 chief complaints and collaborate with the physician a potential care plan.
Shoppers Drug Mart 鈥 worked between two SDM locations, mainly performing medication reviews. I worked with pharmacists and pharmacy assistants. I also got to counsel on new medications and answered patient questions and provided OTC recommendations and gave many vaccinations 鈥 especially Shingrix.
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centres 鈥 300+ bed hospital in Thunder Bay. Here I worked on a general medicine floor as well as the outpatient renal unit. I worked closely with other pharmacists but what is nice about the hospital is there are many other health professionals around you, so I was also able to collaborate with dietitians for TPNs, physicians for inquiries or discrepancies found in med recs, and the pharmacy team was addressed often with questions from physicians, nurses/nurse practitioners. I spent time performing medication reconciliation, drug information and answering specific questions, as well as therapeutic drug monitoring. MRSA rates are higher in Thunder Bay so there was a lot of time spent dosing vancomycin. I also got the opportunity to shadow many other areas of the hospital including cardiology, antimicrobial stewardship, surgery, and ICU. The pharmacy staff is very welcoming and ensure you get a positive learning experience.
Rotations are great for working or building on those skills that can鈥檛 be taught in the classroom. Some skills/knowledge that I gained from my rotations included:

- Confidence 鈥 these rotations give you the opportunity to work up a lot of patients and do a lot of tasks on your own. It really made me feel like, wow, I鈥檓 about to be a pharmacist, which was nerve-wracking at first, but as I got more comfortable in my tasks and job, I really felt my confidence start to increase and felt like I was able to work individually as a pharmacist.
- The opportunity to work more closely with substance abuse. I had never worked in a pharmacy that dispensed methadone, or suboxone so getting to be involved in the processes involved with these medications was beneficial to me.
- Learning more about the NIHB plan (for status individuals). If you thought ODB was bad, this plan has so many more forms you need to get filled out to get certain medications covered, calling for preapproval numbers, making sure you order in the specific brand that鈥檚 covered. Getting the chance to work a lot with this plan I thought was beneficial, as even these tedious tasks are important for making your pharmacy run smoothly and making sure the patient receives their care in a timely manner.
- Dosing vancomycin. It鈥檚 basically used as empiric therapy in Thunder Bay, so I鈥檝e had excellent practice in working with this medication which was nice because in community we never really see it (unless it鈥檚 oral).
Advice for future students
To me, rotations main purpose was to learn, and become comfortable being a pharmacist 鈥 it鈥檚 school.
Take advantage of each rotation site 鈥 even if it isn鈥檛 what you are interested in. I have always been on the community track, hospital has just never been my thing, but due to some changes in employment, I ended up with a rotation at the hospital. I was not very excited for this, I knew it wasn鈥檛 for me, but I still went in with a positive attitude and ended up really enjoying my time at the hospital to the point where I could see myself working at one.

Thunder Bay may be far, but it really isn鈥檛 a banishment. Really take the time to enjoy this part of the province that you may never get to see again. There are tons of beautiful places to visit, and the sun doesn鈥檛 set until like 10 pm, so not having enough time isn鈥檛 an excuse.
You will also be working with a large Indigenous聽population. This gives the opportunity to learn a lot about their different billing processes, and the difficulties a lot of them have to endure to receive their medications and general medical care. Caring for this population was something I had never been exposed to and it was really eye-opening for me and a great experience.
Finally, have fun. You鈥檙e adulting soon begins, so take advantage of this time while you can.