Editor,

On my third trip to Rite Aid in Freeland that day to pick up a prescription, I found that yet again the pharmacy waiting line went almost to the front door, despite the fact it was now evening and I’d expected, as in the past, people to be at home, not in a pharmacy line.

There were 14 people in line ahead of me at 6:17pm. It took 37 minutes before I got my turn at the check-out register. I’m elderly with joint pain. Standing that long is difficult. There was a man on crutches in line, a hunched woman with a walker. And a number of disgruntled but resigned people who had no choice but to wait it out and be as understanding of Rite Aid’s dilemma as possible.

Everyone on the South End who has a prescription knows we are in the midst of a pharmacy wait-line problem, including the hardworking people at Rite Aid.

Do we just leave it to Rite Aid to fix it and cross our fingers? Poor access to pharmacies in rural areas is increasing throughout the United States. Single-ownership drugstores of the past are being swallowed up by corporations such as Rite Aid. With the loss of Lind’s and Island Drug, what’s happening here is happening all across the country.

The community need for expanded access to a pharmacy is obvious. Can we in the community start coming up with ideas of how we can help solve the problem?

One reason I am writing this is to bring to the table idea of a community pharmacy underwritten by a nonprofit. There already exist in other areas of the U.S. community pharmacies for those who cannot afford their medications. Why not a community pharmacy for all?

Goosefoot, a nonprofit, bought and runs a successful grocery store, The Goose. Could something similar happen with a pharmacy?

If a nonprofit organization running a pharmacy is a pure pipe dream, are there ways a community effort could support Rite Aid in its staffing dilemma? The pharmacist in charge at the Freeland pharmacy with whom I spoke is well aware of the problem and throwing her soul into solving it. She asked that the community give her six months. I like her spirit and she certainly has that six months. I suspect it will take more, but I’m on her side.

Would it help if we organized a letter-writing campaign to the people she works for? Faceless corporations do have good human beings trying to do their best. The problem is finding them.

Maybe someone who is reading this will get a flicker of an idea, at least a place to start.

Depending on mail order pharmacies does not seem to me to be a substitute for being able to drive within 10-20 minutes or so to pick up a prescription one needs right now. Utilizing Rite Aid delivery services can help, but that is not the solution. When people need a prescription, they understandably want to simply go to a pharmacy and pick it up.

We don’t want to undermine a local business by utilizing only mail order or creating an overly competitive nonprofit pharmacy to the extent that Rite Aid pulls out completely from the South End.

How do we both help Rite Aid meet our needs and find independent, community-based ways of meeting those needs?

Betty Azar

Freeland