JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Pharmacy closures on Jacksonville’s Northside are forcing families to wait days — and even weeks — to get critical medications.
Recently, Walgreens closed its Gateway and Soutel stores, and with Harvey’s supermarkets being converted into Aldi’s, there are now only two major pharmacies left in the area.
District leaders said the shortage is creating dangerous delays for thousands of people.
“The only Walgreens that’s open is the one here on Lem Turner Road and Lem Turner and Dunn, so just imagine all of the thousands of people who are now just coming to this Walgreens,” Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman said.
From long lines in the store and drive-thru to missing prescriptions, Pittman said she’s seeing the impact firsthand.
“I’ve witnessed this myself. Several customers are coming in and saying that they’re dropping off their prescriptions, and they’re getting a text stating that their prescription is ready, and then when they get here, it’s not here or it’s lost,” Pittman said. “I even have prescriptions that I haven’t had filled, because every time I come, the lines are so long, it’s an issue, it’s a problem.”
That problem quickly becomes personal for families who need urgent care.
News4JAX spoke with a resident who said her sister had surgery recently, and it took 14 days to get her pain medicine.
“Because they never had enough medication in stock to fill hers,” she said. “The last day, when we finally got it, I told her, ‘OK, enough is enough. I went and sat up there. Eventually, four hours later, they called me to the window and gave me her medication.”
Now she said her sister is scared of this happening again.
“She’s so scared that if she needs more medication, she can’t get it filled in time,” she said.
Pittman said she’s pushing Walgreens corporate to address the staffing and supply shortages and she’s urging residents to keep speaking out.
News4JAX reached out to Walgreens for comment, and at the time of this publication, we hadn’t heard back.