Berkeleyside reader and Berkeley resident David Lerman wonders why there’s no 24-hour pharmacy in Berkeley:
My latest Berkeley rant is regarding the limited hours of pharmacy service in our city.
Pharmacies keep banker’s hours. There is no 24-hour pharmacy in Berkeley. I don’t think there is one in Oakland either. Oakland has a 24-hour Walgreens, but the pharmacy is not open 24 hours.
People who are sick or unable to get a pharmacy before they close for the night are SOL. People who walk out of the emergency room at night better have free samples, because they aren’t going to fill an RX in Berkeley until the next day.
At midnight on Sunday, you can get your choice of pizzas, but you can’t buy a potentially life-saving antibiotic.
If your kid is sick in the middle of the night and you are able to get in touch with a doctor to call in an emergency RX, you are out of luck in Berkeley.
Given the millions of dollars CVS, Walgreens and other pharmacies make selling drugs, couldn’t they afford to staff one pharmacy at night in Berkeley to serve people who need their medications? People in Berkeley generate millions of dollars for CVS and Walgreens.
In Barcelona pharmacies take turns and rotate who will be open all night to serve the public. I hear that San Francisco and Contra Costa County have 24 hour pharmacies. Why can’t we get one in Berkeley? Why should millions of people in the East Bay have no access to critical medication at night?
Contact CVS and Walgreens. Tell them you want 24 hour pharmacy service in Berkeley.
Photo from Flickr by Coreyu