DAY 9 @ OTTAWA!!

I am writing this from the comfort of my own home in Ottawa!! It's so good to be back (the last time I was here was Easter, before exams and before this whole fiasco happened--feels like I was living in a different world back then!) We have tomorrow off so I figured I'd stay home for Mother's Day and be back in time for our next stop, Trenton, on Monday.

Today we left the rainy, cold metropolis of Toronto and headed to my hometown and the nation's capital, Ottawa! I know I had told you that I would interview the people who had the opportunity to talk to Deb Matthews in London and post the videos up here, but everyone (including myself) slept for almost the whole way! I will post them on Monday. Our first stop was Parliament. Most people in our group are from Toronto and they were pretty excited to see Parliament so we took some pictures there as a group.

Our next stop from there was the Pharmasave Glebe Apothecary, located in the lovely Ottawa neighbourhood affectionately known as 'the Glebe.' There, owner Claudia McKeen welcomed us in and showed us around. This store is so much more than your regular pharmacy. They compound special, personalized dosage forms for pediatric patients (i.e. medicated lollipops), animals, and those for whom commercially available dosage forms are not suitable. The compounding area is located in the basement of the pharmacy and was a bit of a tight squeeze for all of us! There, we were shown how specialized capsules are made. We also had the pleasure of seeing suppository moulds and the coveted "Rectal Rocket" mould with which everyone wanted a picture (of course...who wouldn't?!) A floor above the pharmacy was the sterile prep room, where the pharmacy prepares injections such as corpus cavernosum injections for erectile dysfunction-alot of the male members in the group were shocked at the thought of such a drug! In all seriousness though, pharmacies like these are important because they offer a personalized level of care--compounding is performed for individual customers and that particular dosage form is not readily available commercially. People are diverse and medications are not one size fit all; some people have certain conditions that simply cannot be treated with regular off the shelf prescription medications. The Glebe Apothecary is an independent pharmacy and would inevitably suffer under Deb Matthews' cuts. Where would that leave people who are in dire need of a special creme, suppository or injection?

We then stationed ourselves, armed with our umbrellas, outside the store on Bank Street between First and Fifth Avenue, where we handed out flyers and talked to pedestrians. I, along with Claudia McKeen, was interviewed by the Ottawa Citizen and a local TV station also showed up to tape us in action. Thank you to all of our Ottawa supporters for driving by and showing their support by honking their horns--I can't tell you how much we appreciate this gesture. It really gets the group riled up and we tend to get louder and more energetic with every honk. THANK YOU!!

This was followed by a canvassing session in Dalton McGuinty's riding of Ottawa South (the Hunt Club area). Many people were not home, I'm guessing this was because it was a Saturday. If I were to do this again, I would probably tell the organizers to plan the trip to Ottawa on a weekday. That way, we could have visited an MPP's office and really made more of an impact. Today being Saturday, it would have been nearly impossible to catch an MPP at work--as hard as it is to believe sometimes, they too are human beings and have a life!

One thing's for sure, it's great to be home again. I will be sure to post the videos and pictures from our Ottawa trip tomorrow when I'm back in Toronto. To all my fellow student tour members, enjoy your well-deserved day off tomorrow! And to any readers who are mothers out there, I wish you a very relaxing and happy Mother's Day.

See you back in here on Monday.