Penn Highlands Community Pharmacy now open to the public

Penn Highlands Community Pharmacy now open to the public

The Penn Highlands Community Pharmacy, located in the DuBois Community Medical Building, 621 S. Main Street, DuBois, is now open to the public for both prescription and over-the-counter medication needs.

The “inside” pharmacy will be open for prescriptions and over-the-counter items from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, closed only on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Currently the drive-up window is open the same hours as the store. The window is available to drop off and pick up prescriptions and an announcement will be made when it becomes available for 24-hours per day service.

“We are excited that the expanded features of our community pharmacy are expanding,” Eric Wolfgang, PharmD, director of the Community Pharmacy said. “Once fully-operational, we will be providing services that you don’t normally find anywhere in our region.”

Wolfgang said that they hope to have the 24-hour services available to the public sometime this spring.

“One of the benefits of having our pharmacy affiliated with Penn Highlands DuBois is that the pharmacists are here working at the community pharmacy and also filling orders for patients at the hospital, “Wolfgang added.” That means, in the near future, we will be able to offer continuous access for those emergency prescriptions any day, anytime.”

This is also important since the pharmacy is located adjacent to QCare DuBois, the health system’s new urgent/walk-in clinic and across the street from the Penn Highlands DuBois Emergency Department.

The new pharmacy also offers state-of-the-art mixing and compounding facilities that allow the pharmacists to mix complex drugs like chemotherapy and other IV infusion medicines for rheumatology. This will help save the hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

The pharmacy has been available for the last few months to fill Penn Highland’s employee prescriptions while general customer access has been limited due to the finalization of computer and insurance programs.

Now the staff and the systems are complete and ready to serve the general public. The pharmacy also has typical over-the-counter products that would be found at most full-service pharmacies.

“We have a large selection of over-the-counter medicines, as well as other products to treat most illnesses and injuries,” Wolfgang said. “Everything from canes and walkers to diabetic testing supplies and cough drops can be found on our shelves. We believe our convenient location will also make us a favorite for anyone using the QCare or a Penn Highlands DuBois physician.”

Wolfgang also said that existing patients of Penn Highland’s physicians will also find an additional incentive to using the Penn Highlands Community Pharmacy. Penn Highlands participates in a government discount prescription program that is available to all qualified patients.

“We encourage patients to take advantage of the 340b prescription program available to those using qualified Penn Highlands providers,” Wolfgang said. “This program may save you money on all of your prescriptions. Please feel free to contact the pharmacy staff at 814-375-6165 for a consultation to see whether you can save money by using the Penn Highlands Community Pharmacy.”