By Peter Vankevich
With little fanfare, the Ocracoke Health Center Pharmacy opened its doors on Dec. 11.
Up to then, Ocracoke residents either had to rely on next-day deliveries to the health center from Beach Pharmacy, located in Hatteras village, go off island for prescriptions or use a mail-order service.
And next day delivery is subject to the ferries running and NC 12 Highway open. Bad weather can disrupt this service, sometimes for more than one day.
Located behind the health center at 305 Back Rd. in the renovated building that served for many years as a bunkhouse for Hyde County EMS employees and more recently as an admin office and storage space for the health center, patients can now pick up their medications prescribed the same day.
Open hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The phone number is 252-928-0784. As an open pharmacy, off-islanders can also bring prescriptions to be filled.
Christie Woolard is the director of pharmacy services and the pharmacist. She holds a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm. D) degree from Campbell University, Buies Creek, Hartnett County. Over her long career, she has worked as a pharmacist in North Carolina, New Mexico, South Dakota and Washington.
Even with her impressive background, she says opening a new pharmacy is very complicated.
“Health insurance companies won’t recognize a filing until I put the pharmacy information into their system, which is very time consuming,” she said.
Despite these processing delays, prescriptions are being filled.
The pharmacy will have some over-the-counter items such as vitamins and cough medicines, but don’t expect to see CVS-style Friday laundry detergent sales, said Joe Rockenstein, chief executive officer of the Ocracoke Health, Engelhard Medical and Manteo Community Health centers, in an interview last year on WOVV, Ocracoke’s community radio station.
The over-the-counter shelves are sparsely filled for the time being as Woolard works on finding the best distributor. Vitamins and other products can vary in quality and price, she said, and she is seeking the highest quality and best prices.
The island’s Variety Store stocks many health-related products.
Joe Rockenstein, health center CEO, said prescription prices will be lower than at commercial pharmacies.
Funding for the pharmacy derived from a grant received under the American Rescue Plan Act (P.L. 117-2), Health Center Infrastructure Support.
Within this grant the health center contracted with Cardinal Health, a company that specializes in the distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical products and serves more than 100,000 locations, according to its website. They spearheaded the complex licensure process, provided a floor plan and shelving design and the many necessary security requirements.
The conversion from a bunkhouse/admin/storage space to the pharmacy was done locally by Ihle Construction Inc.
The Ocracoke Health Center board of directors had been discussing a new pharmacy for the last few years.
“I am just thrilled that we’re going to bring this service to the island, that our CEO has followed through and gotten this going for us,” said Sue Pentz, president of the health center board, when the project began in earnest. “It’s exciting and will be a huge service to any of us and the tourists that visit.”
This is big for Hyde County as this is its first open-to-all pharmacy. The only other pharmacy is in the Engelhard Medical Center and is restricted to its patients.
