I stepped into Ahmed and Sarah Younis’s Sudbury home on a crisp autumn morning, where the dining table had disappeared under a meticulously organized collection of pill bottles, handwritten calendars, and software flowcharts. The married couple, both healthcare professionals who met while working at Health Sciences North, have spent their evenings and weekends for the past three years developing what they call “MedReach” – a technology platform addressing one of Northern Ontario’s most persistent healthcare challenges.
“It started when my mother moved in with us after her stroke,” Ahmed explains, adjusting his glasses while gesturing toward a complex medication schedule pinned to their refrigerator. “She was on eleven different medications, and we realized that even with our medical backgrounds, managing her care was overwhelming. Then we thought – what about all the people doing this without clinical training?”
The Younis family’s experience is far from unique. According to a 2022 Statistics Canada report, more than 30 percent of seniors in Northern Ontario communities manage five or more prescription medications daily, with limited access to pharmacist consultation. In rural and remote areas, this medication burden collides with transportation barriers, creating what health policy experts call “medication deserts.”
Sarah, who worked as a pharmacist for twelve years before transitioning to healthcare technology, pulls up a map on her tablet showing medication accessibility scores across Northeastern Ontario. “The darker areas represent communities where residents need to travel more than 40 minutes to reach a pharmacy,” she points out. “Many of these residents are elderly or managing chronic conditions.”
The couple’s solution – developed in their Sudbury home and now being piloted at three regional pharmacies – combines custom software with a unique distribution system that connects remote communities with pharmacist expertise. The platform allows patients to receive virtual pharmacist consultations while medication deliveries are coordinated through existing transportation networks, including partnerships with Indigenous health services.
When I visited one of the pilot sites at Northern Horizons Pharmacy in Capreol, pharmacist Jasmine Wong demonstrated how the system works. “Before, we’d have patients missing doses because they couldn’t make the drive in winter conditions. Now we can monitor adherence remotely, conduct video consultations, and use our delivery partners to ensure medications arrive when needed.”
Dr. Robert Ohle, an emergency physician at Health Sciences North, has observed the downstream effects of medication accessibility problems throughout his career. “We regularly see patients whose conditions have deteriorated simply because they couldn’t reliably access their medications,” he told me during an interview at the hospital. “The emergency department becomes the safety net for what are essentially preventable crises.”
The Northern Ontario School of Medicine published findings last year indicating that medication non-adherence contributes to approximately 22 percent of avoidable hospital admissions in the region. The economic implications are substantial – the Canadian Institute for Health Information estimates that preventable medication-related hospitalizations cost Ontario’s healthcare system over $140 million annually.
What makes the Younis’s approach unique is how it leverages existing community infrastructure rather than building something entirely new. Their system partners with community organizations that already serve remote areas – friendship centers, outreach programs, and even the public library’s mobile book service in some communities.
“Innovation doesn’t always mean inventing something completely new,” Sarah emphasizes. “Sometimes it’s about connecting what already exists in smarter ways.”
The couple received initial funding through the Spark Innovation Program at Health Sciences North Research Institute and later secured additional support from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. Their project represents a growing trend of healthcare solutions emerging from frontline workers rather than traditional research and development channels.
On a chilly Wednesday afternoon, I accompanied Ahmed to the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation, where community health worker Debra Petahtegoose has been coordinating with the MedReach program. “We’ve integrated their system with our community wellness visits,” she explains as we sit in the health center. “Now
