Pharmacies Work To Help Deliver Prescription Drugs To Vulnerable Customers

DENVER (CBS4) - As people are urged to stay home from work and social events. Older people in our community are wondering how to safely get necessary medication from their pharmacies.

"I don't want to deliberately expose myself," explained an 82-year-old woman who only wanted to be identified as Mary.

Mary said she relies on her oxycontin prescription for chronic pain. When she called the Kaiser clinic to refill her prescription, she asked if they could mail it, as she was afraid of going to the clinic since she is part of the high-risk population for coronavirus.

"It didn't seem wise to force us to come into a clinic filled with sick people," she explained. "And it was, 'Well that's the law. If you want it, you come in and get it.'"

She said her clinic told her that she could have a friend or family member pick up the prescription for her.

"I don't want to ask someone who isn't sick to deliberately go in and expose themselves just for me," Mary said. "When you run into a brick wall like that you don't feel like you have any options I guess."

Mary said she understands laws are tight for controlled substances like her pain medicine, but she hopes pharmacies can find an easier way to get older, at-risk patients the medication they need.

CBS4 found a pharmacy in Denver that is working to do just that. Capital Heights Pharmacy is asking volunteers to help deliver prescriptions to older people in the neighborhood or those with underlying health conditions.

"What we are trying to do is encourage our most vulnerable patients to stay home," explained Kristin Holmes, the pharmacist and owner of Capital Heights Pharmacy. "It's going to make all the difference."

Holmes said they are offering their pharmacy customers the opportunity to make a payment for their prescription online. Then, a community volunteer will deliver the prescription to the customers' home.

"Without that kind of service, people aren't going to have the vital things that they need," Holmes said. "We can't let these people at home be suffering when we have the ability to help them."

If you would like to help the pharmacy deliver, you can contact them. They also will post all updates to goods and supplies they receive to their store to their Facebook page.

For people like Mary who have a controlled substance prescription, you can have someone pick it up for you or some pharmacies do offer drive-thru services.

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