Lifetime Achievement Award
Mike Ortynsky
Pharmacist & Owner
Health Team Holdings Corporation
Fort St. John
He’s the type of pharmacist who would rather take a personal pay cut than let go of staff. He sees the true potential in others and those who meet him often find themselves partnering with his vision for decades to come. He serves the underserved, when no one else will, because he knows just how crucial access to health care can be for British Columbians in remote communities.
Mike Ortynsky began his career as a pharmacist in 1980 after he graduated from the University of British Columbia. Following in his father’s footsteps, he moved north, to the lumber town of Mackenzie, where he practiced at a Boots pharmacy location, while raising a young family.
“He approaches pharmacy from the point of view of providing good service, focusing on the patient and making sure we do the best for each person,” said Charissa Tonnesen, one of the co-owners in Ortynsky’s pharmacy group. “He would tell me, don’t worry about making money and prescription counts. If you have happy patients, healthy patients, that’s when your business is going to thrive.”
In 1989, Ortynsky moved with his family to Fort St. John. Here, he managed a pharmacy named Circle Drugs for about 10 years, before deciding it was time to explore purchasing his first pharmacy. The opportunity took the form of an unoccupied pharmacy space in Tumbler Ridge, a mining town two hours south of Fort St. John.
A pharmacy had recently opened there, but the pharmacist left — leaving the community without any pharmacy at all.
It was around this time Tonnesen was brought onto the team.
Mike Ortynsky from his university days — on the left is a photo from 1980, when he graduated from the pharmacy program, and the right is a photo of his library and Alma Mater Society card.
“At the time, we had three pharmacists. There was Mike, myself and Lori Bonertz and we were also operating the Fort St. John pharmacy,” Tonnesen said. “We still didn’t have a pharmacist for the Tumbler Ridge location, so every Monday, one of us would go out there and run the store for one day a week, just to keep a service there. Eventually, we made it two days a week, and we kept expanding from there.”
Together, the three decided to form a partnership and purchased the Tumbler Ridge Pharmacy space. While the trio were building up their new pharmacy, the owners of the existing store in Fort St. John had recently moved location, and subsequently wanted to cut costs. The owners wanted Ortynsky to let three staff go.
But he was not going to let anyone go. Ortynsky’s first step was to cut the salaries of himself and his partners. The second was to form a human resource management company that would take over staffing responsibilities of the pharmacy through a contract with the owners. He then made every one of his employees an owner. No one was to be fired.
“This changed how all our staff thought about the business. When you’re an owner, you’re less likely to be searching for another job. You’re going to be more concerned about how the business is run, how staff are helping customers, you’re going to be thinking about the pharmacy’s bottom line,” Tonnesen said.
Mike Ortynsky (left) with Charissa Tonnesen, one of the group's first co-owners, at her graduation in 1999.
From there, the business grew quickly. He took over a major construction effort, adding a drive-through, in the correct belief that in the cold of the north, patients might appreciate staying in the warmth of their cars. He led the design of the space, putting the dispensary in the centre, with additional services fanning out like spokes on a wheel — compounding rooms, nursing rooms, travel medicine, sport-injury fittings room, and rooms for other medical needs. For this work, he was awarded the Ben Gant Innovative Practice Award in 2002.
In 2004, the group decided to purchase the Fort St. John pharmacy, now known as Fort St. John Pharmacy and Wellness Centre.
One of the ways he expanded the types of services his pharmacy offered was by bringing a nurse, Tania Bell, onto his team as another co-owner. Today, there are three nurses working at the Fort St. John location.
“He always thought that I knew best about what I could bring to the team,” said Bell. “He saw things in me that I didn’t quite see at that point when we first started working together. He always seemed to have all the time in the world to listen, he’s constantly walking the talk, and helping others see his vision.”
In 2012, the group purchased their third pharmacy Similkameen Pharmacy in Keremeos. Two years later, their fourth, Andreen’s Pharmacy in West Kelowna. At one point, the pharmacy group had as many as 16 co-owners.
“I started here when I was 16 years old and I’m now the senior pharmacy technician,” said Denay Lillico. “Mike brought me into who I am, brought me into my career and taught me what good health care is.”
Across his team, there are countless stories just like this.
Mike Ortynsky (right) hands over the keys to one of his newer team members at Similkameen Pharmacy in Keremeos.
“One time, a customer came in and said, ‘where’s Selena? Did you fire her?’,” recalled Catherine Ortynsky, Mike’s spouse. “My husband said, ‘No, we sent her away for pharmacy training. It’s a six week course. I am not going to fire her, I made her an owner.’
“These fantastic employees, he makes them owners and that’s his innovation. It’s like being made a partner at a law firm, and it’s not just pharmacists who are eligible, it’s nurses, even people who are cashiers.”
Ortynsky also worked with B.C.’s pharmacist regulatory authority on patient safety. He served in the College’s Practice Review Committee from 2015 until 2021.
He was elected in 2019 as the representative for Northern B.C. on the College of Pharmacists’ Board of Directors, and re-elected in 2022. During this time, he also served on the College’s Audit and Finance, Quality Assurance, and Legislation Review Committees.
“His work with the College was a testament to his passion for public service and equitable health-care delivery across the province, and he was both compassionate but steadfast in his pursuit,” said Andrea Silver, Chair of the College Board.
Just before Christmas 2023, the unthinkable happened.
Ortynsky was hospitalized after suffering a myocardial infarction, followed by a stroke. Ortynsky is now recovering in Vancouver with his family, his two children, grandkids, and wife. His pharmacy team is devastated without his presence.
“Everyone has definitely stepped up. We’ve had to move into those big shoes and pick up the slump. He is everything for us here,” Lillico said.
Mike Ortynsky with his son, David (left), in Vancouver. Photo taken in April 2025.
To his team, and his patients, Ortynsky was always the strong shoulder who was there when they needed him. But he has prepared his team well, in no small part due to the decades of preparation and his approach to pharmacy ownership.
“Even though Mike is no longer being directly involved in the day to day running of the businesses, he created an environment for the businesses to succeed even if he wasn’t here,” Tonnesen said. “He always led by example and made sure that we were going to be capable in his absence.”
“It still doesn’t really seem real that he’s no longer working here in the pharmacy,” said Bonertz, one of the earliest pharmacist co-owners. “Although Mike had to leave the profession sooner than anticipated, his legacy will live on in the colleagues he has mentored, the patients he has impacted, and the businesses he worked so hard to establish in four separate communities.”
It’s in the small details, in the people-first approach Ortynsky has always taken. Each of those interactions have left impressions to last a lifetime.
“I sat in this chair one day and I was waiting for something, for a prescription, and I had a bit of a setback,” recalled patient Dan Hanson, gesturing to a waiting area in the Fort St. John pharmacy.
“Mike, he put his hand on my shoulder and said a prayer with me. Right here. I can’t say I have ever experienced that prior to, or subsequently, anywhere else.
“This is the only place I come to for pharmaceutical needs.”