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I'm spending the week in Florence at my parents while I recover from minor surgery. My father got sick in the middle of the night last night. I'm a registered nurse, and he has a history of recurrent urinary tract infections, so I knew what his nausea/chills/fever/ and running to the bathroom every 10 minutes signified.

I thought he might still have a refill on a prescription that he had taken a few months prior for the same symptoms, so I thought, well, I'll just refill that one and go pick it up. WRONG! The nearest 24 hour Walgreens is in Decatur?!? I googled CVS and RiteAid and got zero results for 24 hour pharmacies in the Shoals area.

Is this for real? What do people in the Shoals do when they need medicine in the middle of the night?
"The main reason people get lost in thought is that for some, it's unfamiliar territory..."
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Most folks don't grab a random bottle of pills that they have laying around from a previous ailment and get a refill to see if it works. You, being an RN, have a specific knowledge. Besides, how many Rx's need to be filled in the middle of the night? Don't people go to the doctor during the day and get their medicines immediately thereafter? Generally, if it isn't OTC and available at the 24 hour Wal-Mart, it can wait til morning. Or it warrants a trip to the 24 hour ER.
True...but it still amazes me that in an area this size, there are no 24 hour pharmacies. How many people are in the Shoals proper? I honestly have no idea...I just know it would have really helped him out last night to be able to start on some antibiotics and also to get some anti-nausea medicine refilled. Instead, we had to wait til this morning. I'm just not used to that. I also live in a city where the fifteen hospital ER's we have are treated like primary and urgent care clinics, and that is NOT what they were intended for. I certainly didn't want to make him sit shivering and puking in a chair at ECM for three hours while the real emergencies were seen. Because, honestly, he wasn't an emergency, but still urgent, due to his health history (cancer, etc.) This is something we could have taken care of at home, had I been able to get some prescriptions filled.

I don't think it has anything to do with whether I'm an RN or not, it has to do with availablity of medication that is prescribed to you.

Say you had a two year old, and took them to the ER for an earache at 1:30am and got two prescriptions to be filled. I don't think that waiting on RiteAid to open at 8am so you can get antibiotics and eardrops filled for a screaming baby would be very fun.
I have had a two-year old, and she has woken up in the middle of the night with an earache and hallucinations from 103 degree fever. Tylenol and Ibuprofen every two hours til the doctor's office opens. If you go to the ER in the middle of the night, they will usually give you a dose of meds on the spot and / or samples to get you through til the pharmacy opens.

On another note, given the salaries that pharmacists command and the economic situation in the Shoals, I can see why there are no 24 hour pharmacies.

I hope you recover from your surgery soon. Keep those Rx's filled Smiler
See...you're a good mama (or daddy. Smiler You know the drill. But you'd be amazed how many people won't do that..

I thought about the economics of a full-time 24 hour pharmacist last night when I was cursing and throwing the phone book. I can certainly understand that part, but still wish that the Shoals could at least support ONE. It's just the rantings of a concerned daughter. My dad actually got admitted to ECM for the UTI this afternoon, and I just feel guilty, like if I had gotten him started on antibiotics at 2am, we might could have avoided it, you know?

Anyway...thanks for the well wishes, I have all my little bottles lined up in a row. Smiler
I worked at a Walgreen's when living in the Shoals and there was always speculation that our store would be 24-7 very soon because of the volume we filled per day.

It hasn't happened yet.

But you would be AMAZED to see how many people came up at 9:55-10:30 and tried to chase us down to fill a prescrition.

We would have been happy to, but if no Pharmacist is present, it's illegal.

And most of the time, they darted out of the store faster than the support staff could, so there was nothing we could do about it.

But we still were cursed for it.

I do believe there should be at least 1!

You never know when something really freakish could happen. Yes, there are several ERs. But I've also heard horror stories about those.

If we had been able to fill all of the customer knocking at 9:55 not to mention the people who called and left messages between 12-8, we would have been able to justify keeping the store open 24-7.

It was always sad to send the really sick elderly patients all the way to Decatur. Frowner
Forget the one hour drive. The Wal-Green's in Decatur Does NOT have a Pharmacist 24/7. Their STORE is open, but forget getting Rx after 10:00 or 11:00 PM. I just moved here from Decatur not long ago. I am not even sure a drive to Huntsville would have helped. You're off the hook. It is not your fault he got sicker.
I feel that there is a substantial need with for a 24 hour pharmacy in the area. As a former Hospice RN, I frequently was on call on nights and weekends. I had so many situations where I was unable to get what my patients needed. Even with the most organized plans, there will always be a time when you need something in the middle of the night. Maybe someday, things will change. For now, I guess we'll just have to do the best we can.
I doubt it will ever happen in the Shoals. There is rising concern with people forging scripts and manufacturing methamphetamine. The amazing amounts of people that go to Pharmacies in the day time hours to purchase Pseudoephedrine to manufacture methamphetamine is completely ridiculous in this area. It's hard enough as it is for Law Enforcement in this area to try and curb the problem without there being 24/7 pharamcies around. The drug units here are stretched enough with cocaine, marijuana, oxycontin and actual working meth labs without having to worry about the Pharmacies calling them all night long about someone they expect is purchasing pseudoephedrine to cook meth. I don't see it happening anytime soon unless the state of Alabama bans the sale if pseudoephedrine all together...then maybe we'll get one.
here is a thought, too. currently there is a shortage for pharmacists-so staffing a drug store is enough of a challenge just to cover the day shifts. i manage a retail pharmacy and our pharmacists don't even want to work the day shift on holidays much less an overnight shift. at this point, because there is a shortage they have the power to say WHEN they will work. i am sure if and when we have a surplus of pharmacists there would be a much better chance that we would have a 24 hour pharmacy.
There ya go. I have heard from many sources that a career in healthcare is the way to go these days. There will never be a shortage of people needing healthcare. Incidentally, pharmacists and pharmacy techs are hot jobs right now all over the country (except here, unless you want to work in a fast food joint, there are no jobs around here).
I think it would be a benefit for people to have a 24 hr pharmacy in the area. I am real surprised that Walgreen's is not one already, especially since they have 24/hr 7days/wk call center located in Muscle Shoals. As the person who stated above about being an on call hospice nurse, they were times she/he need to be able to fill a script in the middle of the night to help and elderly person at home, or what if you are taking meds that have to be started on a specific day and for some reason you forgot to get it filled and it did cross your mind till 10:30pm, and I am sure there are many more circumstances/reasons to have a 24hour pharmacy. All we can do is see if one opens here and see if it does well or not.
People in the Shoals do not get sick after the Pharmacies close...If Shoals Citizens get sick it is up to and not beyond the 9 pm closing hour of the Pharmacies...rumor has it that Walgreen in order to help the ones who just by chance are passing through sick...is going to leave the side door unlocked so those individuals can come in and fill their own prescription and leave the money in the shoe box on the counter by the register...
quote:
Originally posted by SaltyDog:
There ya go. I have heard from many sources that a career in healthcare is the way to go these days. There will never be a shortage of people needing healthcare. Incidentally, pharmacists and pharmacy techs are hot jobs right now all over the country (except here, unless you want to work in a fast food joint, there are no jobs around here).


Actually, I believe you will find that there is a demand for pharmacists and pharmacy techs in the area.
quote:
Originally posted by inittowinit:
Pharmacists working day hours make good money (which they deserve). But it is my understanding that those pharmacies that are 24 hours pay even higher rates to pharmacists who work overnight. Which may be the reason there are no 24 hours in florence.


Not may be, but IS the reason there is no 24-hr pharmacy in the Shoals. I work at one of the chain stores. In order to staff a pharmacy 24 hrs, the company would have to hire at least two additional pharmacists at roughly 125K/yr each, at least two techs, another 50-70K/yr combined salary, at least two assistant managers, 70-80K/yr combined salary, and at least two front end clerks, 30-40K/yr, combined salary. All told, a company is looking at shelling out 400-500K/yr just to pay folks to stay at the store overnite. This is in addition to the rest of the staff. Looking at these numbers, there's no way in Hades a company is going to throw that kind of dough around if they don't have a reasonable expectation of getting much of it back. Granted, these numbers are based on my company's rate of pay, others may be higher or lower, but it all boils down to the same answer. Not gonna happen.

Harsh? You bet. But companies like CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid are in it to make money, although with Rite-Aid's stock under .50/share, they may not be in it for the money, or much longer, for that matter.

In regards to the closest, the info that we have, and that we give to customers looking for help after hours, is the Walgreens pharmacy in Madison is open 24-hr. I understand that the one in Decatur was once 24-hr for the pharmacy, but no longer.
Last edited by moelarrycheez
quote:
Originally posted by mmoore1851:
I'm spending the week in Florence at my parents while I recover from minor surgery. My father got sick in the middle of the night last night. I'm a registered nurse, and he has a history of recurrent urinary tract infections, so I knew what his nausea/chills/fever/ and running to the bathroom every 10 minutes signified.

I thought he might still have a refill on a prescription that he had taken a few months prior for the same symptoms, so I thought, well, I'll just refill that one and go pick it up. WRONG! The nearest 24 hour Walgreens is in Decatur?!? I googled CVS and RiteAid and got zero results for 24 hour pharmacies in the Shoals area.

Is this for real? What do people in the Shoals do when they need medicine in the middle of the night?



Moving back to Florence from the Atlanta area this is one thing I did give up. There was hopes that Walgreens would have one of their stores be a 24 hour pharmacy but alas that was just blind hope. I still hope that one day either CVS or Walgreens or even RiteAid would make that move but I doubt it anytime soon.
There are few illnesses that warrant a 24 hr phamacy. If you are ill enough to go to the ER, then they will usually treat you there and send you home with a prescription that can be filled when the pharmacy opens. Otherwise, there are a multitude of OTC meds that can be purchased at Wal-mart to treat the symptoms you are expriencing until you can see your doctor or pharmacist in the morning. If you really think about it the only pro to having a 24hr pharmacy is that when you leave the ER you can get your prescription filled on the way home and not worry about having to go back out in the morning when you feel bad.

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