The 24-hour pharmacy is back at the Walgreens in Bear. (Walgreens photo)
Good news for Delawareans who need prescriptions overnight: Walgreens has reopened its 24-hour pharmacy in Bear.
And its “Seaford and Lewes locations are planned to return to 24-hour Rx services,” said Samantha Stansberry, manager of retail merchandising and marketing communications.
DelawareLive.com is the first media outlet to report the news.
The Bear store is at 1120 Pulaski Highway (Route 40) and will be open 24 hours Monday through Friday, but only 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends. The pharmacy closes 1:30-2 a.m. for lunch.
The Seaford store, 22898 Seaford Highway (Route 13), is already open 24 hours, and the pharmacy is now open until 10 p.m.
The Lewes store, 17239 Five Points Square (on Savannah Road/Route 9) is already open 24 hours, and the pharmacy is now open until 10 p.m.
“At this time, there are no plans to move other locations to 24-hour operations in Delaware, but operating hours are reviewed on a regular basis,” Stansberry added.
A Walgreens at 4098 Edgmont Ave. (Route 352). Brookhaven, Pennsylvania also has a 24-hour pharmacy (closed for lunch 1:30-2 a.m.) and is near Delawareans in the Claymont area.
Walgreens changes
It’s good news, considering Delaware had lost all its 24-hour pharmacies and chances of them returning seemed bleak.
That was especially a problem for people who ended up in urgent cares or emergency rooms late in the afternoon or evening and couldn’t find a place to get prescriptions — like steroids, inhalers, pain meds or antibiotics — filled for another 12 hours.
Complicating the loss of the pharmacies were labor shortages and other industry ills.
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Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy in October, closing stores in Chestnut Hill Plaza near Newark and at 3209 Kirkwood Highway, near Prices Corner. And then a few weeks later it suddenly closed another store in Claymont.
Pharmacies trying to surmount national staffing shortages and burnout tried cutting store hours, buying robots to sort meds, using remote pharmacists, offering bonuses as high as $75,000 and changing how pharmacists are evaluated.
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