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LANARK – A trend tailor-made for small towns is hitting the region: A telepharmacy has opened in Lanark.
Another telepharmacy, which had been slated to open elsewhere in Carroll County, in Milledgeville, apparently is off the table, however.
In a telepharmacy, a pharmacist off site inspects and verifies prescriptions, which are dispensed by on-site technicians.
Lanark Pharmacy opened July 31 at 102 N. Broad St., in the former Shumway Building downtown. Kip and Karrie Sabinson, of Warren, own it and the Warren Pharmacy. Karrie is a registered pharmacist, and Kip is a pharmacy technician.
Andrea McElroy and Naomi Bronski, both of Lanark, are their local pharmacy technicians; McElroy manages the Lanark shop, which also sells a full line of over-the-counter products, vitamins, and soon, Hallmark greeting cards.
McElroy and Justin Rausch of Lanark bought the building last year from Weston Burkholder, who had operated an athletic training business, Platinum Performance, there for 4 years. (Platinum Performance now is in the former Eastland Grade School in Lanark.)
Sabinson said he and his wife learned of the opportunity from one of their pharmaceutical suppliers. They got in touch with McElroy and Rausch in late 2014 and worked out the details. Remodeling started in April.
“Work will be done by telephone and computer,” McElroy said. “Prescriptions will be approved by Karrie in Warren, accessible by computer. You can talk to the pharmacist, come in and drop off prescriptions, and pick them up the same day.”
A similar venture had been slated to open by the end of October in the Gibbs Building, at the junction of state Route 40 and Milledgeville/Polo Road in Milledgeville.
A half-dozen community investors raised $50,000, but TelePharm LLC, a digital health care company based in Iowa City, Iowa, that had committed $200,000 to open the pharmacy, has pulled out of the deal, Village President Galen Wirth said Monday.
He declined to provide further details.
TelePharm consultant Alex Grabber confirmed that the pharmacy would not be put in “at this time.”
Calling it a “private deal with the community,” he, too, declined to say why the project fell through. He did say TelePharm, which requires local investment in its sites, is “still in talks” with the village.
Earlier this year, in announcing the agreement that reportedly was finalized Aug. 4, Grabber said, “Milledgeville went above and beyond, had great organization, and showed us there was a high level of commitment from the community.”
THE NEW PHARMACY
Lanark Pharmacy is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at 102 N. Broad St. in Lanark.
Call 815-493-2080 for more information.