Pharmacists band together to give back

Food collection drive begins Aug. 29

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For the next two weeks, a food collection drive will be held at Long Island pharmacies, culminating in a drop-off event at Ryan Medical Pharmacy in Rockville Centre on Sunday, Sept. 13. The event, called Pharm Aid, sponsored by The Long Island Pharmacists Society, the New York Society of Health System Pharmacists and RockCanRoll, is intended to help people who have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic while also highlighting the work pharmacists have done throughout the past six months.

“Pharmacy workers have been on the front line since day one of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Howard Jacobson, owner of Ryan Medical Pharmacy and organizer of the event, said. “From the delivery driver, stock person, cashiers, pharmacy technicians, pharmacists in all practice settings have been risking our lives to continue serving our communities.”

The aim of the collection drive, Jacobson said, is to help put food and other necessities on the tables of Long Islanders in need and to highlight the fact that “pharmacists and everyone who works in the profession of pharmacy, no matter what the setting, have been providing front-line healthcare to our communities since minute one” of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We wish to honor those who continue to risk their lives every day,” Jacobson said, “and to memorialize those in our profession who paid the ultimate price.”

Several of Jacobson’s colleagues – including Bill Mantell, a longtime resident of Rockville Centre who owned a pharmacy in Queens – have died from complications of the virus.

From Aug. 29 through Sept. 12, donations of canned goods and other nonperishable items can be delivered to participating pharmacies. They can also be delivered to Ryan Medical Building on the campus of Mercy Medical Center, 2000 North Village Ave., Rockville Centre, from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 13. Volunteers will then deliver the donations to families in need.

Jacobson, who also owns Rockville Centre Pharmacy and West Hempstead Pharmacy, is requesting all donations to be in aluminum cans, plastic containers or boxes – no glass, and no dented cans. Additionally, he requested that dates be checked to ensure the food items are not expired. Items needed include: canned meat and fish, peanut butter, jam, soup, coffee and tea, beans, condiments, apple sauce, macaroni and cheese boxed dinners, pasta, rice, snack bars, healthy breakfast cereal, juice, Gatorade, pasta sauce and cooking oils and spices. Personal items such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, diapers, wipes, tampons, napkins, lotion and deodorant, paper towels, disinfectant wipes, pet food and medicines such as Advil and Tylenol are also requested.

“The donations will be donated to folks in need of assistance,” Jacobson said. “Together, we can help some hardworking people who have fallen on hard times. Some families have not only lost their loved ones, they have lost their support system.”

Collection boxes will be available at pharmacies including Rockville Centre Pharmacy at 30 Hempstead Ave. in Rockville Centre; West Hempstead Pharmacy at 490 Hempstead Ave. in West Hempstead; Lakeview Pharmacy at 133 Lakeview Ave. in Lynbrook; Picker Pharmacy at 18 Atlantic Ave. in Lynbrook; Kings Pharmacy in Long Beach, Levins Pharmacy in Oceanside; and Franklin Square Pharmacy at 925 Hempstead Tpke in Franklin Square. Volunteers from RockCanRoll will be wearing masks and gloves as they deliver the donations, Jacobson said. Monetary donations are also appreciated and accepted at www.RockCANRoll.org/Donate or to P.O. Box 700, Jericho, NY 11753.