A new pharmacy opening the first week of September in Mount Hope will offer a unique service to assist its customers. Mount Hope Pharmacy will provide home delivery services to customers, free of charge. Melanie Tilley, who is helping the business get started, said the Mount Hope Pharmacy will have one pharmacist, Dr. Jawed Sherwani, who also owns Main Street Pharmacy in Oak Hill. Two pharmacy technicians and one delivery driver will also be a part of the team at Mount Hope. There was a great need in Mount Hope for a pharmacy, especially one that can meet the needs of the elderly and disabled, Tilley said. She said that many residents in the two sections of the Mount Hope Housing Authority have to depend on their loved ones to take them to and from the pharmacy to pick up their medications. Even if the prescription is not e-scripted into the pharmacy, Tilley said a delivery driver will come out to the patients residence, pick up the prescription, bring it to Mount Hope Pharmacy, and then deliver the medication to the patient. The pharmacy will serve the Mount Hope, Pax, Scarbro and Bradley communities. Tilley said they have received great … Continue reading →

HUNTINGTON - The 80 students in the inaugural class of Marshall University's new School of Pharmacy are expected to do more than fight for a job when they graduate in 2016. School and local officials also hope they will fight the state's rampant prescription drug abuse problems. "You guys are on the front lines," said Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, speaking to students during a celebration for the new school Tuesday. More than 200 people came to the ceremony, including local community leaders and a slew of politicians. University officials have worked since 2009 to make the program a reality, President Stephen Kopp said. "There are times during this process when you could have folded the tent and said, 'Oh, the political pressure is too great,' " Kopp told the packed tent outside the new school. The deans of the pharmacy schools at West Virginia University and the University of Charleston have both questioned the need for a third school in the state. "The number that is important is the availability of jobs and that we've seen our graduates having a harder time landing employment because the market is much tighter," UC Dean Michelle Easton said in a 2011 feasibility study. … Continue reading →

Dr. Kevin Yingling, dean of Marshall's pharmacy school, shows Rep. Nick Rahall and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin the interior of the new pharmacy center at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday. HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall University officially launched the opening of what is now the third pharmacy school in West Virginia on Tuesday, promising the program would lead to "explosive" job growth and health-care opportunities in the Huntington area. "Today's a remarkable day," said Stephen Kopp, president of Marshall University. "Rarely does this university commit to opening a brand-new school of the magnitude of the school of pharmacy." Marshall's Board of Governors approved plans for the Huntington-based public university to open a new pharmacy school in December 2009. Since then, Marshall spent more than $9 million to renovate the pharmacy campus housed at the VA Medical Center in Huntington. "Time will tell, but I think this is a difference-maker for Marshall University and for our community, our region and our state," said Kopp. "This is a school that will become nationally renowned." Marshall's new pharmacy school, which will officially kick off classes for the 80 students in the inaugural class on Monday, joins those at West Virginia University and the University of … Continue reading →

Credit: Bristol Tennessee Police Department A Virginia Avenue pharmacy was robbed earlier this evening, police said. UPDATED City police officers searched late Tuesday for a man they said robbed a pharmacy armed with a note and a box cutter, and then likely fled in a red pickup truck. The robbery occurred just before 5:45 p.m. at the CVS Pharmacy in the 1300 block of Virginia Avenue, according to a written statement from the Bristol Tennessee Police Department. The man went into the store, walked to the pharmacy counter, and handed the clerk a note, said police Capt. Charlie Thomas. The man was armed with what appeared to be a box cutter, police said. The note demanded narcotics, which were quickly dispensed to him, and the man ran out of the pharmacy, police said. Police are looking for an older model, red Chevy extended-cab truck that other witnesses said they saw parked behind the CVS about the time the robbery occurred. The witnesses at the shopping center told police they saw a man get into the truck, which was parked behind the store, shortly before it pulled out and turned left headed toward Georgia Avenue, a few blocks from the pharmacy. … Continue reading →