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Serving Fort Dodge since 1963

Daniel Pharmacy offers more than prescriptions

By Bill Shea 4 min read

John Daniel II was newly graduated from the University of Iowa pharmacy school when his parents helped him open Daniel Pharmacy at 1114 Central Ave. in 1963.

The business with its unique neon signs out front has been a fixture in the community ever since. Generations of area families have bought their prescriptions, vitamins, cough drops and Band-Aids there.

And more recently, they have gone to the pharmacy to get certain immunizations.

Four members of the Daniel family are actively involved in the business. They are John Daniel II and his wife Margo; their son, John Daniel III; and their daughter, Mary Kay Daniel. She also operates her own business, Mary Kay's Gifts and Home Decor, which is right next to the pharmacy.

The Daniel family is assisted by several long time employees.

"At this pharmacy, you're going to see the same staff," said Lisa Redenius Flaherty, who has been a pharmacist there since 2010. "Everybody knows us and we know them."

The pharmacists now spend very little time deciphering what doctors scrawl on prescription pads. The vast majority of prescriptions are sent electronically from the doctor's office to the pharmacy.

When the pharmacists receive the prescriptions, they usually don't have to spend time pushing pills into bottles with what looks like a butter knife. The actual filling of many prescriptions is done with the use of a robot called a Script Pro. The Script Pro looks like a big cabinet. Inside it is loaded with up to 200 of the most commonly used drugs. Prescription information is loaded into the machine, which locates the drug in its system, counts the pills, drops them into a bottle and puts a label on the bottle. That filled bottle is then checked by a pharmacist before being given to a customer.

While they spend less time on the physical work of filling prescriptions, the pharmacists at Daniel Pharmacy spend more time helping people manage their medicines.

John Daniel III said they routinely review the lists of medicines that their customers are taking. That list is called a medication profile.

"We want to make sure that people are on the right drug for the right condition at the right dose," he said.

The pharmacists also work to synchronize a person's prescriptions so that they only have to make one trip to the pharmacy every month.

For people, who have to take a lot of pills every day, the pharmacy offers what is called adherence packaging. That is basically a blister pack that contains the needed pills for each day in separate compartments.

"It makes it a lot easier for people to manage their meds at home," John Daniel III said.

About 18 years ago, Daniel Pharmacy began offering immunizations. It now offers flu shots, plus vaccines for shingles, pneumonia, tetanus, hepatitis and COVID.

No appointments are necessary to get a vaccine. When a person arrives at Daniel Pharmacy to get a shot, a pharmacist will review their immunization record with them.

Compounding pharmacy

When a medication isn't commercially available, John Daniel III can make it in the pharmacy's compounding lab.

Ointments, capsules, suppositories, lozenges and wart peels are among the medications that can be made.

The ingredients used to make those products must meet quality control measures.

John Daniel III completes multiple training sessions each year on compounding practices.

Daniel Pharmacy is the only compounding pharmacy in Webster County.

"There's a need in Webster County we're trying to meet," John Daniel III said.

Other products

Daniel Pharmacy also offers all kinds of things intended to help people stay mobile and in their own homes for as long as possible.

The biggest of those items are specialized lift chairs. They look like recliners found in furniture stores, and people can lean back in them just like they can with a recliner. But these chairs have small motors that can move parts of the chair to help a person get up out of them.

After a customer buys one of the chairs, the pharmacy will deliver it to their home.

The pharmacy also offers a variety of seats and stools used to help people get in and out of the bathtub safely.

There is a full range of products available to help keep people on the go.The inventory includes powered scooters, walkers with wheels that have a seat someone can use when they get tired, and selection of traditional walkers, canes and crutches.

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