THUNDER BAY — With a massive shortage of pharmacy technicians in Northwestern Ontario, Confederation College launched a new program that includes a state-of-the-art lab.
On Friday, the college unveiled its new pharmacy technician lab, which also marked the first public introduction to the new pharmacy technician program. The inaugural class began classes this September.
Shawna Larocque, registered pharmacist and program coordinator, said the lab will train pharmacy technician students in community pharmacy as well as a hospital settings.
“When I say community pharmacy, it would be your classic Shoppers Drug Mart, or maybe your Walmart pharmacy.
“This lab is absolutely crucial. It is a very technical role which allows pharmacists to maintain that therapeutic role.
“This space will allow Pharmacy Technicians to learn everyday so that once they are employed and once they are working in a community environment, it will be a natural progression as to what they need to need to know,” she said.
The students have been enjoying the new lab space, Larocque said.
“It is a difficult program, there a large math component," she said. “There are challenges. With challenges comes at the end of the day, they feel accomplished because it is challenging.
“And when they can complete the program or complete the courses or complete the test appropriately, I think it provides that end of the day confidence that they're able to do it.”
This is the first and only Pharmacy Technician program in Northwestern Ontario, Larocque said.
“With that shortage, I don't know if you've been to a pharmacy, but it can be long wait times. This program is essentially going to assist with the shortage that is occurring right now,” she said.
Shane Strickland, dean of health, Negahneewin, and community services at Confederation College, said there was quite a bit of work that went into the opening of the pharmacy technician program.
“The work included 12 CEOs as well as hospital personnel across Northwestern Ontario and community partners as well, so that we could make sure that the program we designed was going to meet the needs of those living and serving across all of our communities.
“Up until May of this year, it was about a year and a half of planning that went into the curriculum and to the design, that we're standing in today, for the labs. The physical creation of the labs and the build of the labs occurred over the summer months so that we could open in September of this year,” he said.
The program allows for 30 students, a combination of both domestic and international, he said.
“This year we took in a total of 28 students, almost a full program," said Strickland.
“We're actively recruiting and looking for students for the fall of next year including our domestic and international recruitment activities. We anticipate being full next year,” he said.
Confederation College is hosting open house on Saturday, Strickland said. “It's going to be open to all of our campuses and all of our programs, the public are more than able to come into and explore all of our spaces and learn about our programs.”
Strickland said it’s one of the largest recruitment activities to kick off recruitment season.
“On top, on top of that, there are activities where our recruiters go into high schools. We have social media information going at all year.
“Students can also look at our entire college application service, which is OCAS, that's the way in which students apply to college programs that's currently open.
Strickland said Confederation College is actively recruiting students for the fall of 2025.
“Confederation College is incredibly proud to be working with our communities and our hospitals to offer the Pharmacy Technician program,” he said.
