Chelsea
Across the First Branch of the White River and about 100 yards away stands the center of Chelsea. Unfortunately for Rinaldi, the bridge sits between his home and Chelsea’s few stores.
“It used to take me 10 minutes to get my mail. Now it takes me an hour because of road work,” Rinaldi said last week while gesturing to the hills in the distance to illustrate the route he now must take to run errands.
Getting the mail is only one of several challenges for the town of 1,300 residents as two bridges downtown are replaced this summer. Another is access to medication.
Chelsea’s residents are forced to drive more than 30 minutes to neighboring towns such as Bethel, Randolph, or West Lebanon to fill necessary prescriptions. Construction and narrow roads complicate the drive to and from town, which also happens to be the county seat for Orange County.
Roy Hayward has lived in Chelsea his entire life and does not have a driver’s license. To obtain his medication, he must pay to have it delivered.
Hayward’s problem is not unusual: the town’s median age of 45.3 is above Vermont’s median of a tad under 43. With a significant population of senior citizens, Chelsea has a number of people who require regular access to a pharmacy, many of whom are unable to drive.
However, Chelsea was not always without a pharmacy. In 2012, Kinney Drugs moved into the Chelsea Health Center, a community-owned facility along Route 110 north of the historic district.
For a while, residents were relieved, with the pharmacy serving up to 60 people daily, according to Dorothy Jamieson-Brown, the center’s clinic manager.
In order to improve efficiency, Kinney Drugs installed a teleconferencing system a few years after its opening, which allowed a less experienced technician to supply prescription drugs in Chelsea while communicating with a more experienced pharmacist by video.
Unfortunately, the increased efficiency was not enough to turn a profit for the small pharmacy, and its doors closed last August, forcing Chelsea residents to make the long drive to drug stores in other towns.
Once Kinney Drugs gave notice, Chelsea began searching for replacements. State Rep. Bob Frenier, R-Chelsea, a trustee of the health center, contacted The Medicine Shoppe, a small chain based in Barre, Vt. Jeff Nichol, the Medicine Shoppe’s compliance officer, was interested in the telepharmacy system, and the store agreed to move into the space left by Kinney Drugs.
For Frenier, bringing in the Medicine Shoppe is critical.
“The big deal in health is access, and Chelsea has poor access to medicine right now,” Frenier said. “This would be a dramatic improvement.”
Jamieson-Brown agrees, explaining that the absence of Kinney Drugs has been noticed.
“People always ask me if a new pharmacy is coming,” she said.
And Hayward, the Chelsea native, said the pharmacy is “the talk of the town.”
Unfortunately, the switch in pharmacies has not been without challenges and the opening has been delayed.
Nichol intended to open the store in June, and progress originally looked good. Then, the Vermont Board of Pharmacy revised its rules to distinguish between a “pharmacy technician” and a “certified pharmacy technician.”
In order to operate the storefront, technicians now must be nationally certified, a change that Frenier referred to as “unwelcome,” with “bureaucracy getting in the way of what people need.”
The change took effect on Saturday.
The law only applies to Vermonters new to the profession or changing companies, not those already employed. Many of those techs may be hesitant to leave their pharmacies in order to avoid the certification process, according to Nichol.
As a result, finding personnel for the store has been a challenge.
According to Nichol, if all goes well, the Medicine Shoppe pharmacy should be operational by the end of the summer. Everything hinges on staffing, but Nichol remains optimistic.
“It’s been a long process, and it has taken longer than we and the people of Chelsea would have hoped, but we’re getting there,” he said.
As for Chelsea’s residents, they welcome the idea.
“That’s the first I’ve heard of it, but it would be a good idea,” said Earl Metcalf, who lives in the Riverbend Residential Care Home.
Rinaldi referred to the pharmacy as a “rumor,” highlighting a lack of information about the delay.
While the health center board of trustees and the Medicine Shoppe are taking concrete steps to bring the store into action, they’re laying low on publicity.
“We don’t want to promote a store that isn’t open yet,” Nichol said.
Until the store is functional, it’s a matter of patience for both the Medicine Shoppe and supporters of the Chelsea Health Center.
“If you’re a nationally certified technician, or willing to be, please call Bob Frenier,” the Chelsea lawmaker pleaded.
Johanna Bandler can be reached at jbandler@gmail.com.