Lynchburg welcomes pharmacy

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Lynchburg celebrated the grand opening of a new pharmacy on Tuesday.

Kratzer’s Hometown Pharmacy, located at 211 S. Main St., offers more in-depth care for its patients, according to Mark Kratzer, who owns the Lynchburg pharmacy in addition to Downtown Drug of Hillsboro, Kratzer’s Hometown Pharmacy of Wilmington, Town Drug of Sabina, and Barr’s Hometown Pharmacy of Xenia.

“That’s the way pharmacy is now trending — it’s not just taking the script, preparing the script and giving it to the patient,” Kratzer said. “Now, pharmacies are going to have to start focusing on the clinical side. We always did that — that’s part of our job — but we were never paid for counseling the patient, recommending chances to their drug regiment, calling the doctor and saying, ‘Hey, would you consider changing to this drug because it may work better for this patient?’ We’re now going into that direction.

“We’re putting it on Lisa’s shoulders to develop the clinical side, counseling patients beyond the prescription, having them come in for what we call MTMs — medication therapy management. Medicare will rate us on a five-star [system], so we have to maintain our five-star rating. In doing so, we’ll be able to take care of the patients.”

Kratzer said pharmacist Dr. Lisa Bible will lead such efforts.

“We really want to serve the needs of the community. We want to provide not just their medications but their vaccines; we’re hoping to do some point-of-care testing, like strep and COVID testing,” Bible said. “We have more flexibility [than a larger pharmacy] to cater to what the community needs. If people have products or services they’re looking for, feel free to reach out, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Pedorithist Rhonda Smith, who creates custom orthotics and other supportive devices for Kratzer pharmacies’ patients, will be available by appointment.

The pharmacy also offers free naloxone to community members.

The opening of Kratzer’s Hometown Pharmacy comes after Lukas Pharmacy, which was purchased by Walgreen’s in late 2019, closed.

Though Walgreen’s spokespeople welcomed patients from Lukas Pharmacy and other small-town pharmacies, (()) said traveling to Hillsboro to pick up prescriptions was difficult for some Lynchburg residents, especially the elderly.

After former Lukas pharmacist Tom Black requested Kratzer’s assistance, Kratzer’s Wilmington pharmacy began offering free next-day delivery to patients in Lynchburg and Blanchester.

“Tom Black called me on a Monday and said his pharmacy was closing the following Tuesday. His first concern was trying to find someone who would deliver to his customers here in Lynchburg,” Kratzer said. “I told Tom, ‘I’ll even see about putting a pharmacy in here.’ We bought the lot from the city on Dec. 12 last year, and we had the building up two weeks later, then things started slowing down because of what was going on.”

In appreciation, Lynchburg Mayor Jamie Burton presented Kratzer with a key to the village during the pharmacy’s grand opening ceremony.

“This is the first new business on Main St. in years. “We hope it’s a long, long relationship,” Burton said. “Hopefully this is just a small step towards many more new businesses here in town.”

Ohio House of Representative member Shane Wilkin, who fondly recalled riding his bicycle in Lynchburg as a child, also attended the ceremony.

“We want to thank Mark for opening the pharmacy here,” Wilkin said. “We had Lukas Pharmacy forever, and that was just a staple here growing up. It’s a shame that a lot of our small towns are losing these small-town pharmacies. I’m going to argue, as a small-town guy, that these [pharmacies] are even more important to us in the small towns [than in larger towns and cities]. These were hubs where you found out how people were doing. They’re so important to our communities. They’re a little bit of the lifeblood, especially now, as the big pharmacies are pushing them out.”

Kratzer’s Hometown Pharmacy of Lynchburg is open on Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Lynchburg pharmacy offers free next-day delivery in Lynchburg and Fayetteville.

The pharmacy is still looking for pharmacy technicians at its Lynchburg and Wilmington locations.

For more information, visit www.kratzerspharmacy.com, or call 937-382-0081.

Reach McKenzie Caldwell at 937-402-2570.

Lynchburg and county officials and community members gather to celebrate the grand opening of Kratzer’s Hometown Pharmacy in Lynchburg on Tuesday.
https://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2020/08/web1_lynchburg-pharmacy.jpgLynchburg and county officials and community members gather to celebrate the grand opening of Kratzer’s Hometown Pharmacy in Lynchburg on Tuesday. McKenzie Caldwell | The Times-Gazette

Lynchburg Mayor Jamie Burton presents Mark Kratzer — the owner of the Lynchburg pharmacy in addition to Downtown Drug of Hillsboro, Kratzer’s Hometown Pharmacy of Wilmington, Town Drug of Sabina, and Barr’s Hometown Pharmacy of Xenia — with a key to the village.
https://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2020/08/web1_key.jpgLynchburg Mayor Jamie Burton presents Mark Kratzer — the owner of the Lynchburg pharmacy in addition to Downtown Drug of Hillsboro, Kratzer’s Hometown Pharmacy of Wilmington, Town Drug of Sabina, and Barr’s Hometown Pharmacy of Xenia — with a key to the village. McKenzie Caldwell | The Times-Gazette
Offers next-day delivery in Lynchburg, Fayetteville

By McKenzie Caldwell

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