A Black-owned pharmacy has opened in Toledo, OH.
After seeing health disparities within communities during his residency with Kroger, pharmacist Anthony Pattin was driven to provide better access to underserved citizens. At the time, Pattin had already completed an undergraduate degree in pharmaceutical sciences and a PharmD from the University of Toledo, Toledo Blade reports.
“One of my first projects was looking at African-Americans’ perceptions of vaccines,” he told the outlet. “I learned a lot. One thing is, not everyone feels the same way. I had a group of people who wanted vaccines but said ‘As a matter of fact, when I go to the pharmacy, they don’t offer it,’ and that’s how I found out that there are some pharmacies, even in their community, that didn’t offer that service. So that was a disparity — that you were saying that maybe they don’t want the service, but they don’t have it available.”
While Pattin took note, the idea for a pharmacy was catalyzed by an elderly neighbor who informed him of Ella P. Stewart, who made history for opening the first Black-owned drugstore within the city back in 1922.
Now, after spending 15 years as a professor of pharmacy in different parts of the country, Pattin has returned to his hometown as the owner of Junction Family Pharmacy. Its existence in Toledo also helps fill a void left by the closing of Rite Aid, which had created a pharmacy desert.
“I was thinking of waiting maybe a year to do this but then this really pushed it forward,” he mentioned, according to Toledo Blade. “With [them] leaving, it just leaves a big hole and people from here have to travel all the way out.”
Pattin also shares that Junction Family Pharmacy will be a hub for students to access mentorship and potential employment in the future. He has already contacted the University of Toledo and Wayne State University.
“It’s important to me that we have students and continue to train those after us as well, to pass that knowledge on,” he explained.
