Pharmacy Deserts
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Colleagues:
“Does anyone have two Losartan tablets I can borrow?” This message flashed across my HOA WhatsApp chat this past Labor Day weekend, from someone who was visiting their summer home and forgot to level up their medication supply prior to making their upstate trek to the Catskills. The problem they encountered was that all the local pharmacies had closed for the long weekend. The nearest 24-hour pharmacy was in Middletown—45 minutes away.
To anyone who lives year-round in rural upstate communities, it is just a given that everyone knows the necessity of being resilient, for planning for long weekends without services, and for stocking up on essentials. Installing a generator for when (not if) the power goes out is necessary in some communities.
I was reminded of this reality when a news item crossed my desk today. A study in JAMA Network Open found that nearly 46% of the 3,143 counties in the continental United States have at least one pharmacy desert, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. A pharmacy desert was defined as a 10-mile radius without a pharmacy. As shocking as that number seems, a casual drive outside the urban coasts will confirm this as a fact. Furthermore, this study does not even touch on what happens after hours and on weekends.
Some other unpleasant facts in rural communities bear repeating to our legislators. Internet service is still lacking in many rural areas and is rickety and prone to multiple outages even where available. Cell phone service is not always present along all state numbered highways, and dropped calls still occur even on Interstate Highways and on the lower level of some major bridges. Ground ambulance services are just no longer available in some rural Interstate areas, necessitating air ambulance services at exorbitant prices. Some local ERs have lost their trauma doctors.
Pharmacy deserts are just the tip of the iceberg of rural needs.
All the best,
Jerome C. Cohen, MD
MSSNY President
