July 7, 2024
By Kelsey Adams-Mortensen, ACHC Marketing Director
COUNCIL, Idaho-Healthcare professionals at Adams County Health Center (ACHC) began using the pharmacy drive-up window for the first time on July 1.
The brand-new pharmacy drive-up window is officially open for business Monday-Friday between the hours of 9 A.M. and 5 P.M. It is located on the front side of the building and can be accessed by vehicles via the Berkely St. entrance to ACHC’s parking lot.
“We always strive to provide the best care and service possible to our patients and expect this will be a great addition,” said Carlene Emerson, PharmD and ACHC Pharmacy Manager. “A drive-up window was a service that just wasn’t possible in our old facility, and we are excited to have the opportunity to offer the convenience of a drive-up window for all of our customers.”
As the pharmacy has seen unprecedented growth in recent years, it was decided that a drive-up window would be a must-have addition to the pharmacy in the new clinic building.
“We provide pharmacy services to patients seen at our clinic and also to anyone who wishes to fill their prescriptions at ACHC even if they are not seen by our providers,” said Emerson. “Our objective for the drive-up window is to make filling your prescriptions easy, especially for our patients who have issues walking.”
The pharmacy drive-up window will not serve any walk-up customers. If a person walks up to the drive-up window, he or she will be redirected to the pharmacy window located inside of ACHC’s beautiful new clinic building.
“While we are excited to provide this new feature to our community, there may be instances where a person will still need to come inside the building to receive certain pharmacy services,” said Emerson. “If that is the case, the pharmacy professional at the drive-up window will direct you to park your car and proceed to the pharmacy window inside the clinic.”
According to Andria Hall, a certified pharmacy technician (CPhT) at ACHC, the new pharmacy drive-up window offers a safe option to get medications when the weather is bad, and it allows people who are injured or disabled to choose to stay in the car to get medications instead of having to come into the building. Additionally, it allows more than one person to obtain ACHC’s pharmacy services at the same time, because one person can use the drive-up window while another can be seen at the pharmacy window inside the clinic.
“Working at ACHC for 25 years, I have seen a lot of changes,” said Hall. “My hope is that the community utilizes the drive-up window and that we will be able to make it a fast and easy medication pick-up option for them.”
The process of filling or refilling medication at ACHC remains the same. Once a prescription has been filled, the computer system will send an automatic notification text message to the patient that lets the person know the medication is ready to be picked up from the pharmacy.
“It is our goal that patients will avail themselves of our new service and hopefully spread the word to attract new customers to our pharmacy,” said Emerson. “Whether it is through our new drive-up window or via the traditional method of coming inside the building, we look forward to seeing everyone soon. We love our customers and can’t wait to continue to serve you all!”
Currently, ACHC’s pharmacy team is made up of four people: Carlene Emerson, PharmD, Andria Hall, CPhT, Tina Wilks, CPhT, and Hannah Swank, PhT. To contact a member of ACHC’s pharmacy staff with questions about the drive-up window or to speak to one of them about pharmacy related matters, the community may call 208-253-4957.
ACHC is a Federally Qualified Health Center that strives to provide high quality health care services to residents and visitors of Adams, Washington, Valley, Idaho and surrounding counties. With healthcare facilities few and far between, ACHC offers an array of services to meet the healthcare needs of everyone, regardless of social or economic status. Some of the services ACHC currently offers are primary care, dental, pharmacy, laboratory, optometry, behavioral health, physical therapy, diabetes care, immunizations, financial and insurance.
