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Home > Blogs > Hamilton News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > April > 23 > Entry
Community First Pharmacy
Despite being open for months, the Community First Pharmacy, on Second Street, celebrated its grand opening Wednesday.
The event drew all the usual dignitaries, such as Hamilton Mayor Don Ryan and Chamber of Commerce president Kenny Craig. Additionally, some less usual dignitaries, such as Health Director Dr. Bill Karwisch and Hamilton Community Foundation President John Guidugli were present.
Anyone can go and have prescriptions filled in the not-for-profit pharmacy and if you go today there may still be some free cookies.
Continue reading to find out how a not-for-profit pharmacy works.
The story about the pharmacy in Jan. 3’s paper.
Not-for-profit pharmacy opens on South Second Street
In addition to serving the low-income population, the pharmacy also will serve the community.
By Joshua Rinaldi Staff Writer
HAMILTON - It's not the first, but organizers still broke a lot of new ground while establishing the not-forprofit Community First Pharmacy on South Second Street.
The pharmacy is similar to one in Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, which was the first nonprofit pharmacy in the nation when it opened last year to serve the low-income population in that community.
Jeff Thurman, president and CEO of the Fort Hamilton Healthcare Corp. that oversees the pharmacy, thinks they have improved on the original idea. "(The Over-the Rhine Pharmacy) is doing that and doing it well, but they struggle because there's no other revenue to help the cause," he said.
So, in addition to serving the low-income population via the federal government's 340b drug discount program, it also will serve the community the same any pharmacy would and will contract with other nonprofit agencies, such as nursing homes, to fill their prescription needs while also redeeming vouchers nonprofits issue for prescriptions.
In fact, the pharmacy's mission is to provide cost-effective services to local nonprofits.
"We have multiple potential clients," Thurman said.
Thurman isn't sure if the pharmacy can beat supermarkets like Kroger's promise of $4 generic prescriptions. However, Thurman said that the $4 is bait to get the customer in to the store to buy other things. He also said that many individuals are on multiple prescriptions and the total bills may still be more at the supermarket than at the pharmacy.
However, the pharmacy will be more competitive because is not out to make a profit. Consequently, there is much less markup on the drugs, Thurman said.
Assisting the pharmacy is a recently passed state law that allows not-forprofits to recycle rather than destroy unused medication, Thurman said.
For instance, if someone has a 30-day supply and only uses a few days worth, the remaining can be salvaged because the pharmacy is not-for-profit. This will help keep costs down, he said.
The pharmacy is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday
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