With Walgreens shuttering several of its stores in the city of Rochester, local health care systems are trying to fill the gap.
The newest effort: Jordan Health Center is opening a pharmacy at 82 Holland St. off of Hudson Avenue.
“We're not waiting for anybody else to come save us Rochester. We're saving ourselves,” Mayor Malik Evans said during a news conference Tuesday.
During the event, officials from the city, Jordan, and Trillium Health and the two major health systems - Rochester Regional and UR Medicine - laid out the alternatives now available to former Walgreens clients.
The spate of Walgreens closures started in 2022, when the company shut down its store on Thurston Road in the 19th Ward. City and neighborhood leaders said at the time the closure created a pharmacy desert, which means that the average distance to the nearest one is a mile or more — a half-mile in neighborhoods where many households don't have a car.
And this month, Walgreens closed a store on West Main Street in the Bull's Head neighborhood, a store at Monroe Avenue and South Goodman, and a store on Lake Avenue. It also planned to close one store each in Pittsford and Irondequoit.
This year has seen hundreds of pharmacies shuttered nationwide, led by the major chains of Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid, which filed for bankruptcy last year. The closures are blamed on falling reimbursement rates, the growth of online pharmacies and other retail competitors.
Those closures again prompted concerns among city and neighborhood leaders about pharmacy deserts.
In response to the Bull's Head Walgreens closing, Rochester Regional Health said its pharmacy at nearby St. Mary's Medical Campus could accommodate displaced clients.
And in October, UR opened a pharmacy at Brooks Landing on Genesee Street in the 19th Ward. When that was announced, UR officials said that the new pharmacy was a response to the closure of other pharmacies in the neighborhood.
Curt Haas, URMC's chief pharmacy officer, said Tuesday that each of the health care systems that were part of the news conference is committed to fulfilling the community’s need.
"Pharmacy is not the only or the primary thing we do, right?" Haas said. "We provide pharmacy services because it's part of what we have to do to provide comprehensive care for patients in this community, and we are well positioned as safety net providers to be able to do that, so we're not going anywhere.
For years, URMC has operated a pharmacy at Highland Family Medicine, 777 South Clinton Ave., that's open to the public.
During Tuesday's news conference, Trillium officials said the system offers inclusive pharmacy services for the entire community. They have locations at 259 Monroe Avenue and 170 Science Parkway.
