{"id":18760,"date":"2024-12-21T12:12:05","date_gmt":"2024-12-21T13:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18760"},"modified":"2024-12-21T13:26:27","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T13:26:27","slug":"as-drugstores-close-older-people-are-left-in-pharmacy-deserts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18760","title":{"rendered":"As Drugstores Close, Older People Are Left in \u2018Pharmacy Deserts\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shuttered drugstores pose a particular threat to older adults, who take more medications than younger people and often rely on pharmacies for advice.<\/p>\n

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In July, a notice appeared on the front door of The Drug Store, the only pharmacy in rural Kernville, Calif. After 45 years, the proprietor wrote regretfully, it would be closing in four days and transferring customers\u2019 prescriptions to a Rite Aid about 12 miles away.<\/p>\n

As the news spread, \u201cthere was a real sense of loss, a sense of mourning,\u201d said Roberta Piazza Gordon, who owns Piazza\u2019s Pine Cone Inn in Kernville. The pharmacy had served as a community crossroads where people chatted with neighbors and with the friendly staff.<\/p>\n

Its closing also created practical concerns. \u201cWe are an aging population,\u201d Ms. Gordon, 69, said of the townspeople.<\/p>\n

She relied on The Drug Store for her blood pressure and cholesterol medications and for anti-inflammatories after injuring her shoulder. Her husband, who is 70, also regularly filled prescriptions there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At The Drug Store, \u201cyou got your flu shot, your Covid shot, your pneumonia shot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Now those services require a 20- to 30-minute drive to the Rite Aid, which is in Lake Isabella and which Ms. Gordon described as understaffed for its growing number of customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn any given day, there\u2019s a line of 10 to 15 people waiting at the pickup window,\u201d she said. Unlike The Drug Store, the Rite Aid doesn\u2019t deliver.<\/p>\n

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Shuttered drugstores pose a particular threat to older adults, who take more medications than younger people and often rely on pharmacies for advice.In July, a notice appeared on the front door of The Drug Store, the only pharmacy in rural Kernville, Calif. After 45 years, the proprietor wrote regretfully, it would be closing in four days and transferring customers\u2019 prescriptions to a Rite Aid about 12 miles away.As the news spread, \u201cthere was a real sense of loss, a sense of mourning,\u201d said Roberta Piazza Gordon, who owns Piazza\u2019s Pine Cone Inn in Kernville. The pharmacy had served as a community crossroads where people chatted with neighbors and with the friendly staff.Its closing also created practical concerns. \u201cWe are an aging population,\u201d Ms. Gordon, 69, said of the townspeople.She relied on The Drug Store for her blood pressure and cholesterol medications and for anti-inflammatories after injuring her shoulder. Her husband, who is 70, also regularly filled prescriptions there.At The Drug Store, \u201cyou got your flu shot, your Covid shot, your pneumonia shot,\u201d she said.Now those services require a 20- to 30-minute drive to the Rite Aid, which is in Lake Isabella and which Ms. Gordon described as understaffed for its growing number of customers.\u201cOn any given day, there\u2019s a line of 10 to 15 people waiting at the pickup window,\u201d she said. Unlike The Drug Store, the Rite Aid doesn\u2019t deliver.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18762,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18760"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18763,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18760\/revisions\/18763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}