If you have a prescription to pick up from the clinic, don’t go at lunchtime. The dispensary is indefinitely closed from 12pm to 1:15pm on weekdays.
Eileen Conlon Scott -- executive director of the Ililuk Family Health Clinic -- says during the police’s investigation into missing drugs there’s been a cutback in who’s allowed into the dispensary.
“We have one certified pharmacy technician who’s in there dispensing daily," Scott said. "To put two technicians in to overlap and cover each other would actually be more expensive. We don’t do a lot of dispensing out of our dispensary.”
So when the technician leaves for lunch, the dispensary closes.
Unalaska’s dispensary can only accept prescriptions written at the clinic. Anything else and you’re out of luck unless, you see one of the providers at the clinic. And then, hopefully, they'll be able to get you the medicine you need.
Scott says having a pharmacy -- like what you’d find in CVS -- is not possible here.
“If we did have a pharmacist and he got sick, no one is allowed in the pharmacy without a pharmacist in there," Scott said. "Another reason why we have a dispensary because we need providers to be able to go in and dispense in case of an emergency in the middle of the night.”
She adds the clinic typically only provides 30-day prescriptions; so using a mail-in pharmacy is a better, cheaper, bet.
Deputy police chief Jennifer Shockley says the investigation could take months.
