A pharmacy in Moore County, North Carolina, is depending on generators to keep them open so they can continue to fill patient prescriptions in the midst of power outages in the community.
Rob Barrett, the owner of Whispering Pines Prescription Shoppe, told CNN his team rushed to protect the pharmacy’s inventory when the power went out Saturday night.
“We quickly removed the medicine from the pharmacy’s fridge,” Barrett said. “I stored some medicine in my home which was being powered by a generator and other employees who lived outside the country helped by storing inventory in their homes.”
Barrett believes he has enough gas to keep the generator in the pharmacy running for a few days but the gasoline shortage in the community has impacted the number of employees who able to make it to work.
“Some employees do not have enough gas to make it to work so we’re running on a skeleton crew. We’ve had to cut back on hours and we’re only using the drive-thru," he said.
Barrett has also had to pause prescriptions deliveries until the power comes back on because of safety concerns, he said.
“Since the power is out so are the traffic lights. We don’t want to risk our employees’ safety by asking them to drive on roads without traffic lights," Barrett said.
The pharmacy has seen an increase in new customers who have had to transfer their prescriptions to his pharmacy because of the power outage’s impact on other pharmacies, Barrett added.
Communication is another obstacle the local pharmacy is dealing with.
“Our phones may be affected as well so if you are not able to get us on the phone please try to email us,” the pharmacy wrote on their Facebook page.
Barrett also owns another pharmacy in the nearby town of Seven Lakes that was initially impacted but has had its power restored as of Sunday.
