Lateef Olaniyan, Owner of Southgate Pharmacy

Owning His Own Shop Makes it Easier to Say “Yes”

MATTAWA - Mattawa residents can now pick up a prescription for their child’s earache at the retail pharmacy inside the Mattawa Community Medical Clinic, instead of driving 65 miles to Sunnyside, Ellensburg or Othello.

Dana Fox, director of the Mattawa Community Medical Clinic in rural central Washington, says between 25 and 35 prescriptions are filled every day, and sometimes it’s as many as 60. Last year at this time Mattawa residents were out of luck if the medication they needed wasn’t available from their doctor’s office, or if the prescribing physician was in another town. In that case, their only option was to wait for a mail order or drive a long way.

“It’s a huge deal that Mattawa has a retail pharmacy, ” Fox says, and the reason it has one is Lateef Olaniyan. Olaniyan, who opened the Southgate Pharmacy inside Lep-Re-Kon Harvest Foods in Moses Lake in April 2010, opened the Mattawa telepharmacy in January 2011.

A telepharmacy is a service center where medication is dispensed by pharmacy technicians, but the pharmacist who does the patient verification and medication counseling is in a remote location and uses telecommunications technology to communicate live with customers.

"From day one until we opened the store, I don’t think I could have done it without Allan."

~Lateef Olaniyan

In person or via teleconference, making a con- nection with his clients is important to Olaniyan. “I know at least 90 percent of my customers by name,” he says. That was true when Olaniyan worked for corporate-owned pharmacies, and it’s true now as well. One difference, he said, is that when it comes to patient care, he has a little more control. He can say yes more often, without waiting for corporate approval.

Joe Montemayor, owner of Lep-Re-Kon Harvest Foods is thrilled to have an independent, locallyowned pharmacy inside his store. It fits well with his model of customer service and providing residents with local goods and services.

“Our business has increased just because he’s here,” Montemayor said.

The chain of people who helped Olaniyan realize his dream of opening his own pharmacy, and then provide telepharmacy services to a rural population, is a long one that includes both Montemayor and Fox, the director of the Mattawa clinic. It also includes Meg Andresen, the pharmacy technician who knew of Olaniyan and first suggested that Fox contact him. Olaniyan says there are many others.

He is thankful for all of them, but he has special thanks for Allan Peterson, the certified business advisor at the Small Business Development Center in Moses Lake.

For years Olaniyan had dreamed of opening his own pharmacy, but he felt a sense of loyalty to his longtime employer, and, even more so, to those who came to him for medication and advice.

But, when news hit in early 2010 that Safeway had bought the Food Pavilion pharmacy and would be consolidating it with its existing pharmacy in town, Olaniyan decided the time was right to strike out on his own. Though Olaniyan knew the pharmacy industry inside and out, he knew nothing about owning a small business and knew he needed some advice.

“Everybody was telling me, go see this guy, Allan,” Olaniyan said, and so he did.

Together he and Peterson worked on business plans, market research, financial statements, loan applications and more. Less than two months after the old pharmacy closed in February 2010, Olaniyan was able to begin dispensing medications at Southgate Pharmacy with the help of Karen Ottmar, a pharmacy technician.

“From day one until we opened the store, I don’t think I could have done it without Allan,” Olaniyan said. Even now, he says, Peterson continues to come by the pharmacy or calls just to check in. “He’s always a good advisor to me,” he said.