Walgreens offers customers medication prep advice for hurricane Isaac

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens is underscoring the importance of medication preparedness to its customers that may be impacted by hurricane Isaac, which is on path for the Gulf Coast.

If patients are worried about gaining access to their prescription medications, the drug store chain said it is a member of ICERx.org (In Case of Emergency Prescriptions), a secure prescription information network available to pharmacists and doctors during a national emergency. As a member, Walgreens pharmacists can fill prescriptions and access information for hurricane-affected patients even if the patient normally uses another pharmacy.

Additionally, smartphone users can register for Walgreens mobile applications to order prescription refills while on the go and locate the nearest Walgreens pharmacy. Customers with smartphones also can utilize Walgreens prescription refill-by-scan feature by scanning the bar code on their pill bottle with their phones. Customers can send the prescription refill to their nearest pharmacy and receive a text message alert when it's ready to pick up.

Walgreens also offered the following tips to patients:

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  Customers should get to a safe location and refill their medication at the nearest pharmacy. Walgreens stores nationwide can access patient records; and

  
  


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  Take a waterproof bag with your current medication — even if the bottle is empty. The information on the prescription label will help the pharmacist refill medicine once a patient arrives at their destination. Heat, humidity and sunlight can degrade the effectiveness of medicine, Walgreens noted; and

  
  


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  Walgreens encourages customers to keep a written record of current prescriptions, including current dosage and doctor's contact information, in a valuable papers file. Walgreens patients can register online at Walgreens.com and print out this information directly from their patient profile.