As it marks its first year, health center acquires Sykes Pharmacy
Greater Valley Health Center has purchased Sykes Pharmacy, including the main pharmacy in Kalispell and the satellite location in Columbia Falls.
“We are very excited to welcome the Sykes Pharmacy staff to our team and add pharmacy services to our scope of services within the Greater Valley Health Center organization,” said Mary Sterhan, CEO of Greater Valley Health Center, in a release. “Sykes Pharmacy has a great reputation for customer service which we value and commit to preserving.”
The acquisition, effective June 1, comes as the health center celebrates its first anniversary as an independent organization. Last year the Flathead Community Health Center, which was a division of the Flathead City-County Health Department, began operation as a private nonprofit with a new name.
Greater Valley Health says all Sykes Pharmacy employees were invited to continue their employment under the health center and were offered a full benefit package of health, dental, vision, retirement match and paid major holidays which are new benefits for those employees.
As a Federally Qualified Health Center, patients will also benefit from the 340B Program for discounted prescriptions which can help make needed medications more affordable for patients, the health center notes.
Sykes was established in 1905 to offer food and groceries at 202 2nd Ave. West in Kalispell. In 1981, a retail pharmacy was added at that location by the owners at the time, Doug and Judy Wise. In 2003, Tobey and Cynthia Schule acquired the retail pharmacy and later established a second location in 2021 in the Cedar Palace Medical Complex in Columbia Falls.
“We are proud of what we have accomplished over the years,” said Tobey Schule, pharmacist and former owner of Sykes Pharmacy, in a release. “We are grateful that the transition of Sykes Pharmacy to Greater Valley Health Center will continue the tradition of a locally owned pharmacy where the focus is on compassion and patient-centered care. It gives us comfort that patients and the staff will be taken care of in the future.”
The health center serves more than 7,000 patients a year. Since separating from the health department, the health center hired additional medical, dental and behavioral health providers and with the addition of the Sykes staff, the Health Center now employs over 80 personnel.
In less than a year, the organization opened three new health clinics located at Linderman Education Center in Kalispell, East Evergreen Elementary and Kalispell Middle School to provide medical and behavioral health services to students and staff.
The Health Center also continues to participate in the University of Montana’s Family Medicine Residency whereby six residents are currently providing primary medical services to patients at the health center.
The Greater Valley Health Center provides primary medical care, dental, behavioral health, addiction services and more. For more information, visit www.greatervalleyhealth.org