Charlie's Pharmacy

Today, Saturday June 1 marks 33 years since we opened the doors of Charlie’s Pharmacy in the heart of Downtown Kingston. June 1, 1991.
It was a Saturday like today.

Our sales for the day was a little over $4,000 and we were ecstatic!

There were so many items that we did not stock, but we wrote down every request and ordered them on Monday June 3.

My mom, dad and sister Carol (who was then a medical student) were there, along with Mrs Merine Blair and pharmacist Mrs Leslie-Ann Kelly who spent the entire day with us dispensing pro bono. I thank you all for your help which continues to this day.

This 1000 square foot facility, our family business, has shaped my path and my life.

Charlie’s is situated in the inner city, and the health needs there are somewhat different from other locations. I needed training in public health to respond effectively to these needs, hence my question to do a Masters Degree in Public Health, introduced to me by Mrs Margaret Wilson-Blake. I did not qualify as such (having a diploma in Pharmacy from CAST) but Prof Eldemire Shearer whom I had never met in my life, stood up and argued for me in that selection process (I was told this in later years by Dr Janet LaGrenade of blessed memory).

My mom Enid, sacrificed her time for that entire year to manage Charlie’s Pharmacy for me. God bless my Mommy for all the sacrifices. Jah know!
SMH.

In the last week of my 1-year Masters (August 1996) we toured Jamaica AIDS Support facility. Many of the patients were cachectic.
And my love affair with HIV/AIDS began.

The stone that the builders “refused”, returned to the Department at UHWI, in 1997 to tutor in Biostatistics.

I started my HIV/AIDS ministry and applied to London to pursue the PhD in 2001.

The rest is history.

But ……. the team …….the janitors, the sales personnel, the cashiers, the dispensary personnel, the pharmacists - all who have given love to this place we call home - they were and are the back-bone of this ministry. Thank you all.

To every single pharmacist who has stepped in and served our valued clients, for 14 years, 10 years, 5 years or just a day, I thank you. From the bottom of my heart. You have stood in the gap for me.

Thanks to the thousands of customers throughout the 33 years who have honoured us by using our goods and services. Obviously you’re the reason why we sing.
The people of Downtown, Kingston have embraced us and we too have embraced them equally.

God is good!

My husband Gary has joined the team of strong supporters, for which I am grateful.

My 3 Pharmacist Friends in Business, including Dr Shereen Cox, have been very supportive too. Thank you.

We continue our mission and our ministry in this humble space, and we remember and honour Charlie, my dad, who wanted more for his children than he had throughout his lifetime.
Charlie’s Pharmacy was the furthest thing from my mind. Mrs Kelly and I wanted to do “hair”. But Charlie’s Pharmacy was my dad’s brainchild.

The stories of “all of it” are many, many, many and mindblowing. We continue to write it to this moment!

Let’s go. The people are waiting.

Mammogram We Say. Just do it!

Wishing you a good Good Friday! 🙏🏿

Open this Monday and Tuesday September 6 and 7

Celebrating 30 years
Excellent Health Care is our Minimum Standard

Charlie’s Pharmacy Ltd - 30 Years

Saturday June 1, 1991 to Tuesday June 1, 2021
30 Years
A whole lifetime.

The concept of Charlie’s Pharmacy Ltd was borne out of the coinciding of Charlie’s retirement with one of his daughter’s graduation from pharmacy school. This family had no antecedence, no riches, no business acumen. The heads of this household were civil servants, government employees.
Sandra Bucknor Jones was that young pharmacist, about 5 years earlier who had planted the pharmacy seed into my father Charlie’s head.

COK Credit Union turned us down for funding. Don Crawford of Century National Bank (which went south five years later) gave us a small chance. $250K as an overdraft facility.

We grabbed it and never looked back.
There was a cholera scare in Jamaica in early 1991, and when we entered the 4 walls of this abandoned building which was roofless and was everything from a gambling spot to a public “toilet”.

Mr Mark Azan who was giving us the guided tour, showed us “cholera” in the making on various sections of the floor. So $200K and our savings, was used to renovate and roof the building and install fixtures and fittings, while $50K was used to buy minimal starting stock.

That Saturday morning June 1, 1991 was our new beginning. Present at work were Mommy Enid, Daddy Charlie, sister Carol, brother Dave, Mrs Merine Blair, Leslie-Ann Dixon Kelly (volunteer pharmacist), and of course me.
Grand sales of $4,000 that day. We were thrilled!

Charlie’s Pharmacy has changed my whole life, and the lives of the members of my immediate blood family.

I know that we have changed the lives and quality of life and health, of many people. This change I believe, is most evident in our persons living with HIV and AIDS, and in our persons who have diabetes.

I am indebted to every customer who has entered our doors. We needed each of you to spend, in order to get to this point. Thank You. From every parish in Jamaica you have come to us for goods and caring services. Thank you for allowing us to serve you. Please come again, and again.

But we could not have taken the first step, nor walk nor run as we have, without the input of the more than 100 ambitious, industrious, tenacious and conscientious team members who have worked in our establishment. These are our extended family members to whom we have always been and will always be, eternally grateful. Thank You.

There has been one marriage between team members, many children born to individual team members, many graduations, acquisitions and success stories among team members, and naturally, painfully, the passing of several former team members, including our own Vervell “Charlie” McDaniel.
We have experienced at least seven general elections and what they bring - that’s a whole other story! Let’s put it this way - there is no JDF soldier who can do the “soldier crawl” better than I can.

Charlie’s Pharmacy itself has given birth to a subsidiary - Medicine Chest Ltd (another pharmacy nearby), and Medicine Chest Health Centre.
It’s been a whole lifetime of experiences.

Working in Downtown, Kingston, west of Parade, being the manager of people, of sometimes 35 people, being a FEMALE manager, has not been easy.
There is NEVER a dull moment in Downtown Kingston West of Parade. Never.

Working in Downtown, Kingston, West of Parade, as a female manager, is not for Sissies.

As for me, I am a different person from that youthful, exuberant, naive 23 year old who was scared to go downtown to work. I have grown in every way, including sideways! I have done so much, had so many moments of pride, happiness, sadness and grief inside those 4 walls at 1 West Queen Street, and outside those walls in the last 30 years.

I have learned to relax my muscles now, and I got married and became a parent (not in that order) in the last so many years.

At the end of the day, on this our 30th Anniversary, I feel like Charlie’s is not facing the beginning of the end of Charlie’s.
On the contrary, I feel like Charlie’s is just at the end of the beginning of Charlie’s.

“Excellent Health Care is Our Minimum Standard” is what we continue to believe and practise. You have to LOVE PEOPLE to do all that we do for our clients, patients, customers, persons. “Treat every patient like he or she is your mother.”

And as my dear friend Forrest Gump would say, “That’s all I have to say about that!”

But maybe what I really want to say, is what my dear friend Forrest Gump would say about Jenny……..” But most of all………I think about Charlie”.

Welcome to Charlie's Pharmacy!
Charlie's Pharmacy is a full-service store which provides a vast range of medications, medical supllies and pharmacy services of high quality and affordable prices.
Our team specialises in Prevention and Care of Diabetes, Cardiovascular (Heart, Circulation and Blood Pressure) Diseases and HIV/AIDS.
We offer Whatsapp Prescription and Delivery Services. Whatsapp your prescription to our phone and have your medications delivered.
Excellent Health Care Is Our Minimum Standard.

Welcome to Charlie's Pharmacy Ltd!