Tony Boghossian  Pharmacist | Private sponsor

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“I still remember the day, it was a Sunday, and I was at home. At 6 o’clock, I opened my email and it was a message from Merry Cardinal, the Primary Health team leader at Somerset West Community Health Centre. She was asking us to help her fill prescriptions for over 35 refugees at the Radisson Hotel. I knew it was almost closing time. I called and talked to the pharmacist in charge and he said, ‘Don’t worry, we have already processed them. It’s been taken care of, boss.’ I felt so proud of my staff and it was the happiest day of my life.”

I felt so proud of my staff.

The next day, one of the pharmacists went to the hotel after his shift was over. He speaks Arabic and he could explain and dialogue with the residents about the medications, the side effects and things like that. He even wrote the instructions on the label in Arabic.

The community itself was there, the number of organizations that were there to help, churches, mosques, groups and individuals, even the family that we sponsored. I really feel proud to live in Ottawa, to have such a great community and organizations that linked together in such a short time, and they did a really great job.”