Northside Apothecary

Dr. Kathy Henry created Northside Apothecary with a purpose — to reclaim the practice of pharmacy.

Dr. Henry, Director of Pharmacy at Northside, earned her license to practice in 1987. She launched straight into her career, but as it continued she noticed something. A piece of the process that she considered to be a key ingredient of helping patients was becoming more sterile.

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For more information on Northside Apothecary, visit the website at

northsideapothecary.com or find the pharmacy on Facebook.

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The idea of practicing pharmacy and being actively involved in patient treatment was losing ground to corporate demands for providing a product.

“Treating patients requires relationships,” Dr. Henry said. “You, your doctor and your pharmacist must work together to provide you with the best possible care.”

So, in the early 2000s, Dr. Henry began discussing her vision for a pharmacy with Dr. Rock Helms at Northside Medical Associates. The conversation continued for the next 10 years, as both shared the vision of a pharmacy of the highest quality joining the Northside Medical campus. Finally, in December 2012, that vision became a reality when Northside Apothecary opened its doors.

Since then, Dr. Henry’s focus has been on creating an environment that improves dialogue among all parts of a patient’s treatment. That process starts by freeing up staff to focus on patient care.

Using state-of the-art equipment in the store ensures accurate and timely service. With its customers as top priority, the technological additions to the pharmacy helps the prescription-filling process run efficiently.

The most impressive piece of technology in the pharmacy is called Parata Max, or just Max for short.  Max is a robotic dispensing unit that receives instructions from pharmacy computers, which give it the information on the prescription to fill. The machine then picks up the bottle, fills it with the correct medication, labels it, and dispenses it into the alphabetically appropriate bay.

“Max is great for our productivity,” Dr. Henry said. “Having a machine that automatically handles the actual filling of prescriptions frees up the staffs’ time, enabling them time to counsel patients and work with doctors directly.”

Another service that Northside Apothecary offers — one that is unique to the area — is providing patients with durable medical equipment. The pharmacy offers an array of medical equipment for patients who need it, and the staff works with patients’ insurance companies in every effort to get the item covered when possible.

Besides improving treatment, since opening it has also been a priority for the staff to be involved in the community. Northside Apothecary sponsors a host of high school athletic programs in St. Clair County, has provided the book “Eight Keys to a Better Me” to local second graders for the next two school years, caters to both Senior Citizens and our under-appreciated Veterans and has weekly give-aways for Vets during November (Veterans Day) and May (Memorial Day).

The pharmacy also provides free toys to all children — both in-store and in the drive-through — in an effort to help them better enjoy their experience. And dogs get dog treats as well.

“We want to be involved as much as possible with our customers,” Dr. Henry said. “If there is a way we can help out in the community beyond pharmaceuticals, we do it.”

• Automatic refill program

• Free medication information consultation

• Internet refill requests

• All prescription insurances accepted

• Easy prescription transfers

• Flex Spending Cards accepted

• Comprehensive selection of Rehab & Home Health Care products