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History

1955 February John Dyck opens Dyck's Pharmacy at 553 Bernard Avenue in downtown Kelowna! A small community store, John Dyck not only filled prescriptions, he also sold school supplies, cosmetics and perfume. In fact, his perfume business was very popular in Kelowna: he bought perfume in bulk and repackaged it into small bottles for his customers.
1960 Dyck's moves to a bigger space at 545 Bernard Avenue. John Dyck began stocking giftware and other gift items - another popular move at the time.
1961 Dyck's becomes the first pharmacy in Western Canada to adopt a formalized Family Medical Profile system to care for patients. Written prescriptions were entered by hand on a series of index cards which were filed by person or family in a large wheel contraption that resembled a huge Rolodex.
1968

Spring & Summer		 Dyck's expands their already progressive methods of patient profiling to include details like family health history and allergies. John Dyck is a member of the Pharmacy Planning Commission of BC which put together recommendations for the direction that pharmacy should take. Proper patient records were high on their list. Dyck's realigns its service focus. Calling itself a "Patient Care Centre", Dyck's becomes a truly professional pharmacy with the dispensary as the focal point and with greater access to home healthcare supplies. Other improvements include:
  • Changes name from Dyck's Pharmacy to Dyck's Pharmacists to highlight the importance of the their pharmacists to the business.
  • Decreases access to self-serve medications pharmacists are more accessible to better address their patients' health concerns and questions.
  • Increases services & equipment to people with disabilities. Establishes itself as a leader in providing Medical Supplies, supplying wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and canes for sale or rent.
  • A library for their pharmacists to help with their professional development; ensures top-quality and leading edge care for patients.
  • A dedicated compounding room with a sterilizing light for creating sterile preparations for customers.
1972 February Dyck's opens its second store inside the Glenmore Medical Building.
1973 Dyck's free delivery service doesn't extend to the Okanagan Mission - John Dyck feels it's too far! Instead, he offers to mail prescriptions to his clients in the Mission! Today, with our services growing right alongside Kelowna's growth, Dyck's regularly delivers to the Mission!

John Dyck sells his pharmacies to his two managers, Dennis Gerace and Pat Stiles.
1974 October Dyck's becomes the first pharmacy in the BC Interior - and among the first in Western Canada - to implement a controlled dose pill packaging system for their Long Term Care clients. PillPaks, as they come to be known, make supplying medications to patients a much less onerous task for caregivers in long term care facilities.

Dyck's must get an electric typewriter and a dedicated (and precise!) typist to create multiple labels - the computer technology to print multiple labels is still over four years away!
1975 Dyck's becomes one of the first pharmacies in BC to stop selling tobacco products. That's over 25 years ahead of many pharmacies who are still selling tobacco to their clients!
1979

Spring

August

November

Dyck's is among the first pharmacies in Canada to implement a computer system. Like most computers, this system sometimes proves to be more trouble than it's worth, but in the end, it enables more efficient prescription filling and patient profiling.

At this time, Dyck's works with Lakeside Pharmacy to become the first pharmacies in BC to have a networked computer system between their stores. Clients are provided with seamless care between all the branches of the pharmacies.

Dyck's buys the lot at 1460 St. Paul Street and begins building their new downtown (and current) location. With the help of the KSS Jazz Ensemble and some borrowed shopping carts, Dyck's moves into their new location.

With more space, Dyck's takes the opportunity to expand their services and modernize their dispensary.
1984 Dyck's opens its third store in the Group One Medical Building on Springfield Road.
1986 The Long Term Care department at Dyck's begins using reusable plastic cards for their Nursing Homes. The new cards replaced the cardboard, one-time-only cards, which cut down dramatically on waste.
1987 September Dennis Gerace celebrates his 20th year working as one of Dyck's Pharmacists!
1993
Spring

Summer

Fall

 Dyck's is the first pharmacy in Kelowna to supply an automated blood pressure machine for patients.

Dyck's Medical Supply staff become specially trained in providing foot care services to their clients.

Dyck's moves its till away from the dispensary to increase pharmacists' ability to field questions from our customers.
1994 Dyck's appreciates the interest in of many homeopathic remedies and begins to offer more and more homeopathic products to its clients.
1996 September Dyck's joins BC's Pharmacare program, HealthNet which creates a network of patient profiles to be shared with all other pharmacies in the province.
1996 January Dyck's adopts a new computer system that facilitates seamless customer care between their own pharmacies.
1997 January Pat Stiles retires. Dennis Gerace continues as owner with his new partner Doug Patterson.
1998
Fall		 Dyck's St. Paul redesigns the dispensary again! This time to allow for a private patient consultation room and to allow for an increase in the number of staff that are needed to fulfill patient needs.

The redesign also allows Dyck's to increase its service to group homes and long term care facilities. In addition, our service to patients in their home with compliance pill packaging grows. The program helps to keep patients independent and living in their homes longer.

Dyck's creates a dedicated compounding lab and becomes one of the only pharmacies in BC to install a Laminar Flow Hood, which uses UV light to maintain a sterile environment. This addition adds to our ability to serve customers with special medication needs.
1999 January June October December Dyck's is the only pharmacy in the Okanagan that fills syringes for insulin dependent patients who are visually impaired and have troubles filling their own syringes.

Dyck's continues to embrace new technology. The store now has 19 computers, up from only 5 in 1996!

Dyck's launches its web site to service the growing number of clients with Internet access Anastasia Shortt joins Dennis and Doug as a part owner of Dyck's Pharmacists.

Dyck's reinvests in its delivery service. There is now dedicated a truck and two staff members who supply free delivery to our clients 6 days a week, from 8am to 8pm. The truck now averages about 5000km each month!
2000 December Dyck's partners with the Kelowna General Hospital as part of the Palliative Care Response Team. Dyck's provides medical kits for hospital nurses who visit the homes of identified Palliative Care patients.
2001
May		 Dyck's launches a redesigned web site offering greater e-commerce capabilities, including prescription refills and on-line shopping!