‘It’s a big deal’: Pharmacy closures are hitting westsiders hard
(MIRROR INDY) — As recently as 2020, three pharmacies were within walking distance of Leo Valverde’s home in the Hawthorne neighborhood. Now the stores are closed, and he scrambles for transportation to buy something as simple as headache medicine.
When Valverde can’t afford an Uber, he waits for the bus. When the bus doesn’t come, he calls a family member for a ride. If no one can pick him up, he’s out of luck. Nobody, he said, wants to walk 2.8 miles and back in the cold or the dark.
“In my country, there are pharmacies on every corner,” Valverde, a 36-year-old from Nicaragua, said in an interview with Mirror Indy conducted in Spanish. “Definitely not here, though.”
Here is the 46222 ZIP code, a swath of racially diverse and mixed-income neighborhoods on the near west side. The area has lost more than half of its pharmacy locations in the last four years, forcing residents to go elsewhere or simply not get their medications at all.
It is an extreme example of a larger trend in Indianapolis. At least 24 retail pharmacies have shuttered in the city since the beginning of the pandemic, according to state pharmacy board and licensing data. Local stores are casualties in a nationwide wave of closures driven, in part, by falling profits and staffing shortages.
The loss of nearby stores creates barriers to access for people without the time, money or transportation needed to visit another location.
“It’s a big deal when one pharmacy closes,” said Darren Covington, executive vice president of the Indiana Pharmacy Association trade group. “It’s a neighborhood with one less access point. Folks don’t just go for prescriptions, they get immunizations and other services.”
And unlike in some Indianapolis neighborhoods, where the loss of a pharmacy simply means relocating prescriptions to the one across the street, people living in the 46222 ZIP code now have far fewer options.
Only two pharmacies remain open, and residents say access is limited by distance and eligibility. It takes about an hour by bus from Hawthorne to reach the Walgreens store on Kessler Boulevard. The Eskenazi Health Center Westside is about a 15-minute walk, but it’s only open to patients.
The three closures near Valverde’s home were CVS stores. The company declined to explain why it shuttered the locations, but said it considers local market dynamics, population shifts, store density and a community’s overall access to health care in closure decisions.
Covington said he suspects the stores were not profitable, in part because of the high number of Medicaid patients in the ZIP code. One study found pharmacies are more likely to close in low-income urban areas because Medicaid typically has a lower reimbursement rate for prescriptions than private insurance.
Jama Bennett, a family coach who works at the Hawthorne Community Center, said some immigrants in the neighborhood find it easier to get their medications outside of the U.S.
“Transportation is such an issue,” Bennett said. “People bring (medicine) over from Mexico and sell it here on the streets.”
Even those who have a car find themselves spending too many hours driving across town and sitting in waiting rooms.
Maria Hernandez said she spends gas money on trips across town to get her kidney medicine — something she can’t live without. Her only option, she said, is to travel to Ascension St. Vincent Hospital Indianapolis on West 86th Street and wait for half an hour or more.
“It doesn’t matter how long that could be,” she said in an interview conducted in Spanish.
Annette Bottoms knows what it’s like to wait, too. The 72-year-old does not have a car and relies on family members to reach the Eskenazi Health Center Westside. It’s already a struggle to afford medication for her leg, which was broken last year.
She often settles for over-the-counter pain medication, such as Tylenol.
“I’m trying to be tough and stick it out,” Bottoms said.
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz contributed to this article. Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.