The prescription for Manor? No drugs

Pharmacy closure troubles many

By Zoey McGee | Manor Ink

Livingston Manor, NY – In the first week of April, Manor Pharmacy at 43 Main Street in the hamlet officially closed. Without the Manor’s only pharmacy, residents are now forced to find new drug stores accepting their insurance, and will have to travel further to receive their medications.

Owned by Sullivan Pharmacies, Inc., Manor Pharmacy has been open and running since 2013. Prior to Manor Pharmacy, Medicap served as the town’s pharmacy for eight years, until it closed in 2011.

The same day as Manor Pharmacy departed, Neighborhood RX Pharmacy at Garnet Health Medical Center in Harris also closed down. Both were owned by pharmacist Sonal Trivedi, who also owns Sullivan Pharmacy in Liberty. The reasons for the closures are currently unknown.

Neither pharmacy’s customers were made aware of the closure ahead of time, making their shuttering a shock to everyone, and risking the health of those relying on medication. Letters were sent out to inform the public, but some of them were received after the closures went into effect, or were never received at all.

Manor Pharmacy transferred customers’ information to Walgreens in Liberty. Many, however, have had complications with using that pharmacy and have switched to others such as The Medicine Shoppe or K&K Pharmacy, both in Liberty. According to a clerk at the prescription counter in Walgreens, the store’s computer was supposed to accept Manor Pharmacy clients’ insurance, but in many instances the system had not been updated, causing the company to reject those providers. The clerk said she was busy inputting Manor account data by hand at the time.

Customers express frustration

Manor Ink talked to three former customers who have been affected by the Manor Pharmacy closure.

Dina Johnson, who lived in Livingston Manor for about 20 years, was shocked and dismayed when the doors to the Manor Pharmacy shut. “Since I’ve lived here, we have had a pharmacy closed down three or four times,” said Johnson.

Johnson’s son has had problems with refills of his prescriptions. She explained that his prescriptions were not transferred, so now he needs to get new ones from his doctor. Both Johnson and her son were initially unaware that the pharmacy closed. “My son went to pick something up, and they had a closed sign,” she said. “They didn’t announce it – just all of a sudden, they were closed.”

Jennifer Squires, a local house cleaner, said the closing of the pharmacy has “been a nightmare.” “I never knew they were shutting down, and I didn’t get the letter until a week after they already closed,” said Squires. She heard the news when she called to fill a prescription, and the connection transferred her to Walgreens.

“They filled my prescription for me and told me I had to pay full price because they didn’t accept my insurance,” she said. Many people haven’t been able to use Walgreens for that same reason. “I’m on a medication that I’m supposed to take every day, and I’ve had to go three days without it because it was already Friday, and I had to wait until Monday to get my meds because they had to transfer them to a different pharmacy.”

Vera Farrell, former board president of the Livingston Manor Library and lifelong resident of the hamlet, returned from vacation to find the pharmacy vacant. “I drove down to the pharmacy to renew a couple of prescriptions, and there were workmen there tearing up the interior, and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ and they said the pharmacy was closed,” explained Farrell

Farrell remembers the original pharmacies in the Manor. One which was in a building where the firehouse now is. “And in the 1940s, there were two pharmacies in town. We got Central Pharmacy, which was run by two pharmacists who were brothers-in-law, and the Charlie Fuhrer Pharmacy,” Farrell said. “They were both always busy.

“I just wonder about the big picture, of whether Sullivan County is getting the medical services that we need.” She explained that recently the dentist she went to in Liberty moved to Middletown, her ophthalmologist cut his hours, and now the Manor and Harris Pharmacy closed.

Despite improving its wellness ranking in the past year, Sullivan County still remains near the bottom at 60 out of 62 New York counties in overall health. Also, according to the county’s Community Health Improvement Plan, “Since 2020, Sullivan County has faced a decline in both physical and mental health care providers.”

“So if Sullivan County is going to be a welcoming place for people to move into, it needs good medical services, and it’s kind of looking like we are not getting them,” said Farrell.