Walgreens mobilizes ahead of Hurricane Dorian
With Hurricane Dorian bearing down on Florida Friday, Walgreens was readying its stores in the area to assist customers, employees and communities expected to be impacted.
“Walgreens is fully mobilizing to support the health and wellness needs of our customers and communities that may be impacted by Hurricane Dorian. We urge our patients and customers to follow evacuation orders and ensure they are in a safe location first and then refill medications at the nearest pharmacy. Walgreens has approximately 9,500 locations nationwide that are able to access patient’s records,” said Lisa Badgley, senior vice president of pharmacy and retail operations, Walgreens. “We have a dedicated team in our Emergency Operations Center working to ensure our team members in the impacted areas remain safe. In the event we need to temporarily close stores, we are prepared to rapidly restore operations in order to best serve our patients and communities.”
One of the key undertakings the retailer focused on was prescription drug preparedness, highlighting the importance for pharmacy patients to store all prescriptions in a waterproof bag, even if the bottle is empty, as label information can help staff with refill requests. Walgreens also encouraged using its store locator feature on its website and in its mobile app, both of which also have a Pharmacy Chat feature.
Additionally, Walgreens said that it was proactively staging mobile pharmacies near the region that could be deployed as necessary to its stores that are damaged or unable to reopen in a timely manner. Most of the company’s Florida stores have backup power generators, and Walgreens also was staging backup generators that can be deployed to stores in case of loss of power. The company also said it would evaluate its philanthropic response in the storm’s aftermath and was prepared to donate needed items to emergency shelters.
“Walgreens is fully mobilizing to support the health and wellness needs of our customers and communities that may be impacted by Hurricane Dorian. We urge our patients and customers to follow evacuation orders and ensure they are in a safe location first and then refill medications at the nearest pharmacy. Walgreens has approximately 9,500 locations nationwide that are able to access patient’s records,” said Lisa Badgley, senior vice president of pharmacy and retail operations, Walgreens. “We have a dedicated team in our Emergency Operations Center working to ensure our team members in the impacted areas remain safe. In the event we need to temporarily close stores, we are prepared to rapidly restore operations in order to best serve our patients and communities.”
One of the key undertakings the retailer focused on was prescription drug preparedness, highlighting the importance for pharmacy patients to store all prescriptions in a waterproof bag, even if the bottle is empty, as label information can help staff with refill requests. Walgreens also encouraged using its store locator feature on its website and in its mobile app, both of which also have a Pharmacy Chat feature.
Additionally, Walgreens said that it was proactively staging mobile pharmacies near the region that could be deployed as necessary to its stores that are damaged or unable to reopen in a timely manner. Most of the company’s Florida stores have backup power generators, and Walgreens also was staging backup generators that can be deployed to stores in case of loss of power. The company also said it would evaluate its philanthropic response in the storm’s aftermath and was prepared to donate needed items to emergency shelters.