For 100-plus years, independent retail, or community, pharmacies have been the backbone of small, rural communities. Unlike chain pharmacies, independent community pharmacies are small, personal and family-oriented. When you walk into an independent community pharmacy, the staff know you by name and they know your family; they know the inner workings of the community. They know how to make you feel welcome and heard, and are eager to help with your needs.

If we continue on the track we are on, there will be less and less independent community pharmacies. If we want to reverse the course we are on, we need to support our small, local pharmacies.

Most people believe pharmacies make “tons of money” filling prescriptions, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Independent community pharmacies make their money from selling over-the-counter items like Tylenol, allergy medications and vitamins. Without selling these items, they cannot keep their lights on and pay their employees, and they will inevitably have to close their stores — something that is becoming more and more common.

As a future pharmacist, hopefully an independent community pharmacist, I urge everyone to shop local and support your independent community pharmacies. If we lose them, what will we have left? Where will we go to get our prescriptions and over-the-counter items? Will the chain pharmacies care as much as independent pharmacies?

I urge everyone to shop and support your local, independent pharmacies. If we support them, they will be able to support us, care for us and be advocates for our health.

Andrew Pallus

Leechburg

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