Why does St george have such limited Pharmacy hours? (St. George: insurance, home)

[silverspoons]

I am not a huge fan of Walgreens but I thankful that they are the only pharmacy that is open 24 hours and the only one open after 7-9pm (depending on the day of the week). I just can't believe that between Cedar, St George and Mesquite there is only 1 pharmacy open for such a large population. When you wait 2-3 hours at instacare with a sick child and need medicine and then have to wait hours in line at walgreens it is crazy. My child had a sinus infection and it was 7 hours between the Instacare and Walgreens. My husband had an emergency dental procedure and I again was forced to go to walgreens because it was the only store open and they could only give me 2 antibiotic pills because they were low and had to make sure they had a few for any other patient that might come that night. I had to return the next afternoon to get a full week supply.

Even during regular hours, I have had to go to multiple pharmacy's to find liquid meds for my neighbor ( a senior who has a hard time with pills) or my son had an allergy and they wanted him to have a some asthma type meds just in case and they were back ordered 5 days. I had another neighbor wait 2 weeks for low blood pressure meds. It is hard to hear pharmacy's say it will be 3 days to get meds from SLC or we can't order on weekends. I want to make it clear, Im not talking about pain pills or meds like that, I am talking about blood pressure, antibiotics, asthma meds that people can't wait for.

The walgreens said that the state turned down an additional location as well as a well care facility (I believe that is a mini clinic inside of walgreens with a NP or PA that does minor stuff like strep throat tests) . St George also was the only major city CVS did not come into in Utah? Is there a reason that the state stopped another walgreens from being open 24 hours(maybe the state officials should wait in a 3 hour line at 11pm with a sick child at home!) Why didn't the city approve CVS? Is there something in the good ole boys network I don't know about.

I know many people say how wonderful St George is but this is one of those odd issues that is rarely brought up that 250k people or more have only one pharmacy option 11 hours of the day.

[karenSG]

off topic re your 24 hr. question, but I call Walgreen's the world's worst pharmacy due to multiple experiences there. Stapley's, on the other hand, has been fine. Albertson's doesn't seem to keep medicine in stock either; they couldn't fill the same Rx that Walgreen's couldn't. I use CVS by mail when possible.

[UTES]

I'll bet that with the recovered economy and growth resuming in the St. George area, you'll soon see additional pharmacies, extended hours, or both.

Bill

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by silverspoons

I am not a huge fan of Walgreens but I thankful that they are the only pharmacy that is open 24 hours and the only one open after 7-9pm (depending on the day of the week). I just can't believe that between Cedar, St George and Mesquite there is only 1 pharmacy open for such a large population. When you wait 2-3 hours at instacare with a sick child and need medicine and then have to wait hours in line at walgreens it is crazy. My child had a sinus infection and it was 7 hours between the Instacare and Walgreens. My husband had an emergency dental procedure and I again was forced to go to walgreens because it was the only store open and they could only give me 2 antibiotic pills because they were low and had to make sure they had a few for any other patient that might come that night. I had to return the next afternoon to get a full week supply.

Even during regular hours, I have had to go to multiple pharmacy's to find liquid meds for my neighbor ( a senior who has a hard time with pills) or my son had an allergy and they wanted him to have a some asthma type meds just in case and they were back ordered 5 days. I had another neighbor wait 2 weeks for low blood pressure meds. It is hard to hear pharmacy's say it will be 3 days to get meds from SLC or we can't order on weekends. I want to make it clear, Im not talking about pain pills or meds like that, I am talking about blood pressure, antibiotics, asthma meds that people can't wait for.

The walgreens said that the state turned down an additional location as well as a well care facility (I believe that is a mini clinic inside of walgreens with a NP or PA that does minor stuff like strep throat tests) . St George also was the only major city CVS did not come into in Utah? Is there a reason that the state stopped another walgreens from being open 24 hours(maybe the state officials should wait in a 3 hour line at 11pm with a sick child at home!) Why didn't the city approve CVS? Is there something in the good ole boys network I don't know about.

I know many people say how wonderful St George is but this is one of those odd issues that is rarely brought up that 250k people or more have only one pharmacy option 11 hours of the day.

silverspoons,

I find your account of your family's experiences to be accurate. Unfortunately, many other families have stories identical to yours.

It's a bad combination having only IHC serve the cities and only Walgreens open after 9:00 p.m. and 24/7. I doubt much will change until competition forces it. In the seven hours you could have driven to Vegas and back for care.

Walgreens doesn't over build their 24 hr. pharmacies. Even the SLC ones often don't have all the medicines they should to be open 24/7. When Walgreens has a captive metro, they give no thought to another 24 hr. store or even stalking more medications.

This is not new and Walgreens does this in every metro 250 K. Their thinking is where else will patients go? I'm glad you started this post. I'm one who has known what was lacking in St. George. It's nice to see others finally starting to post about what St. George doesn't do or have.

A few suggestions how you might make things easier for yourself in the future:

1. Talk to your primary care physician about your experiences. Ask him or her what should you do differently? InstaCare in Cedar City might not take as long. The more physicians hear from their patients the more they will have to help create a new solution.

2. I'd look in your phone book for non-chain pharmacies that work with facilities, Home Health and Hospice. Often they will say what number to call after hours. I wouldn't expect a specialty pharmacy want to come in to fill one prescription, but ask if they ever do. Once again you are letting local providers know needs that aren't being met. The southern UT pharmacists meet for regular meetings. For any pharmacy to stay open perhaps until midnight, the pharmacists need to get an idea of how many prescriptions they would fill with extended hours. It has to make financial sense for a pharmacy to staff more hours.

3. Ask InstaCare if they have one or two pills for immediate use until your regular pharmacy opens the next day. InstaCare probably won't have meds unless enough patients complain. It's more likely an IHC - affiliated pharmacy might start remaining open longer, but nothing will change until enough people keep giving the same messages to their doctors and pharmacies.

4. Be sure to ask all you know who have had similar experiences to tell their doctors and pharmacies. The more the better.

5. Finally, consider where else you could seek care that your insurance will cover. St. George metro residents keep using the same facilities. Until they feel a drop in their volume financially, they aren't going to change. Others waited as long as you. It has to be enough patients that the Walgreens and Instacare financially feel the difference. Vegas may be much easier, if your insurance will pay, vs. sitting for hours.

Good luck!

MSR