Erika Norton | Echo
IU Health announced this week that the IU Health Upland Retail Pharmacy attached to the Health Center will be closing Nov. 6.
All prescriptions and information will automatically be transferred to the CVS Pharmacy in Gas City, which will begin filling prescriptions from the Upland pharmacy November 7. Students can ask to have their prescription information transferred to the CVS Pharmacy in Hartford City if they wish.The biggest impact this change will have on students is the loss of convenience in having a pharmacy right across the street.
"Depending on whatever direction you're heading, seven or eight miles isn't forever away, but it's not as convenient as running over without needing a car," admitted Ron Sutherland, vice president for business administration.
Sutherland believes the transition from the Upland pharmacy to the Gas City pharmacy should be a smooth one.
"It should be pretty seamless, hopefully, in terms of being able to fill recurring prescription needs," Sutherland said.
The Health Center will continue to offer their services to the Taylor community as part of Marion General Hospital's function, according to Sutherland.
"The Health Center itself isn't affected; it's just the pharmacy on the front side," Sutherland explained.
Dean of Students Skip Trudeau also assured that the Health Center will continue its services.
"Any prescriptions you would've gotten over there, you still get those prescriptions, you just can't fill them," Trudeau said.IU Health released a statement earlier this week thanking customers for their loyalty, citing financial reasons for closing the pharmacy.
"We have enjoyed serving (the Upland and Taylor University community) as a customer and appreciated all your patronage at our pharmacy over the last 17 years, but it has become increasingly more difficult financially to keep the pharmacy operating at our present staffing levels and with the appropriate hours of operation," the statement read.
Pharmacy service line leader Terry Pence described why IU Health decided to close the pharmacy.
"This was a very difficult decision for us because we really enjoyed serving this community," Pence said. "However, the pharmacy is losing money and ultimately it was a financial decision."
Pence explained how IU Health hoped to sell the business to keep it open but were unsuccessful.
"We kept that pharmacy open for over a year after other IU Health services left, in hopes of finding a buyer for the pharmacy business to stay there, but we were not able to do that so we announced our closing," Pence said.Marion General Hospital, which runs the Upland Health Center, also released a statement about the pharmacy closing.
"Marion General Hospital has no involvement in the pharmacy. We are disappointed for our community that they are closing."
Sutherland and Trudeau do not believe IU Health's decision to close the pharmacy has anything to do with Obamacare or the health care changes that have been made recently.
"It's easy to wonder about that because that is such a hot thing right now, but I think it has much more to do with the economics of running a pharmacy in a rural location where IU Health doesn't have a doctor presence," Trudeau said.
Junior Carolyn Clark feels for students who need medications regularly.
"I think it's going to make it difficult for students who don't have a car to get to (their) medications that they need regularly, and it's also going to be really hard for students when they get sick because they're not going to have access to medicine or anything that's convenient," Clark said.
