CLEVELAND — Several Northeast Ohioans are feeling a sense of uncertainty after their neighborhood pharmacy, the CVS on Kinsman Road, closed its doors.
Rite Aid alone has shuttered dozens of stores amid a bankruptcy battle, while CVS tells 3News they have closed 10 Cuyahoga County pharmacy locations in the last three years.
“I’m concerned, because I know how many people depend on this drug store, especially in the building we live in right next door," said Mount Pleasant neighborhood resident Lacy Brooks.
Brooks lives in the Ivy Plaza Apartments alongside many senior citizens. Until about two weeks ago, they could walk to the CVS location to get medications, vaccines, and other essential items like toiletries.
Stephanie Pike Moore, a research scientist with Case Western Reserve University, says she's watched as a growing number of pharmacies close down, and for many seniors, it's not easy to travel to other locations.
Brooks echoes that.
“This is a community where the majority of these elders do not drive," Brooks said. "I’m just about 80 years old. I’m still driving, but in a couple of years I’m gonna give it up, and it’s gonna be hard.”
Pike Moore says the closures are hitting some areas harder than others.
“These are traditionally disenfranchised neighborhoods, populations that were historically redlined, so folks with lower incomes, folks that identify as non-Hispanic, Black," said Pike Moore. "These communities are experiencing a higher rate of retail decline, or pharmacy decline.”
The struggle is causing some seniors to make really hard choices, like stretching their medication to last longer than intended.
“You might have folks who are less likely to adhere to whatever medication that they are prescribed, so folks end up with a greater than anticipated rate of going back to the hospital," Pike Moore said.
Some senior citizens told 3News they're having to rely on rides from family and friends to get to other pharmacies, but they're concerned for the future.