'There was no other option': Brantford mom drives to New York state for children's medicine

When three of Patricia Farfan’s four children were running a fever, including her three-and-a-half-year-old twin boys, she said the small supply of year-old medication she had in the cupboard quickly ran out.

Unable to find any more amid the shortage, the Brantford mother says she tried everything.

“I gave them popsicles. I put them in the bath, nothing. [Their illness] would not budge and so I got desperate,” Farfan explained.

That’s when she decided to try her luck south of the border.

“There was no other option for me. I had to go,” she said.

Farfan called the closest pharmacy to the border in search of the medicine she desperately needed.

Farfan explained that the sun was soon setting, and she was worried about the kids not being able to sleep through the night as they battled the fever.

She says that’s when she decided on a whim of desperation, to drive to Buffalo, New York.

“So I took off, I left them. They were sleeping with my daughter, I called my husband, my husband rushed home, and I made the drive and luckily I was able to pick up a few bottles,” Farfan said.

In Guelph, Cora Rideout, says her four kids and her better half have all been sick too.

"I called around, and I went to two [stores],” said Ridout.

She says she finally found one bottle of Children's Motrin and is prioritizing the much-needed medicine for her youngest kids.

“I have half a bottle left, so hopefully, I can get through this with this,” she said.

In Waterloo, compound pharmacist and Beechwood Wellness Pharmacy owner Phil Hudson has been making his own medications for sick children.

“We are probably doing around 30 or 35 a day per day for individual patients,” said Hudson.

He is unsure if, or when he will receive any of the 1 million bottles promised by the federal government but says he will be checking in with his wholesaler every single day.

“I think we will probably keep it behind the counter to try and limit the supply. We would try and prioritize it to patients who actually have a child with an active illness,” said Hudson.

Hudson suggests parents in need reach out to a pharmacist for advice on compounding or how to dose other forms of acetaminophen or ibuprofen.