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Stores scrambling to fill void of Goodyear on-site medical facility
By Cheryl Powell
Beacon Journal medical writer
POSTED: 06:56 a.m. EST, Jan 07, 2009
Some area pharmacies are competing to fill the void left by the recent closure of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s on-site medical facility.
Retail stores in the Akron area are aggressively trying to attract Goodyear employees and retirees who filled prescriptions at the Goodyear Family Medical Center, which closed at the end of last year.
One store — Klein's Pharmacy in Cuyahoga Falls — even hired a former Goodyear Family Medical Center pharmacist and has been advertising his addition to the staff in the hopes of attracting his former patients.
Pat Cornwell, 56, had been a pharmacist at the Goodyear clinic for seven years before joining Klein's this month.
''We were looking for a new pharmacist, so it served two purposes,'' Klein's Pharmacy President Barry Klein said of hiring Cornwell. ''We wanted to try to recruit some of the Goodyear business and, also, Pat was an excellent candidate.''
The strategy appears to be working.
''I've already had several of the patients contact me here,'' Cornwell said. ''I've actually talked to some patients who came in looking for me.''
Other retailers also are putting out the welcome mat, with newspaper ads and messages in front of their stores urging Goodyear employees and retirees to fill prescriptions inside.
The sign in front of the Walgreens at Brittain Road and Eastwood Avenue in Akron, for example, announces: ''Welcome Goodyear Rx.''
''We are accepting Goodyear patients, and we are seeing a number of new Goodyear patients,'' Walgreens spokeswoman Vivika Vergara said.
Acme Fresh Market stores throughout the region also have signs welcoming Goodyear employees and retirees.
''We can fill your prescription!'' the signs announce.
Since the Goodyear center closed, Acme pharmacies in Akron's Ellet neighborhood, plus Stow, Tallmadge and Cuyahoga Falls have had an increase in business, said Jim Trout, Acme's vice president of merchandising and sales.
Acme and other retail pharmacies have faced competition in recent years from mail-order pharmacies, which some insurers require enrollees to use for maintenance drugs.
''That's what put the pressure on us to fight for what's left,'' Trout said. ''Everybody's fighting for what's out there.''
Goodyear had been providing primary-care services to employees and retirees at the site on Goodyear Boulevard since 1989.
But the company couldn't offer the on-site medical services to United Steelworkers union retirees after a Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association trust, or VEBA, went into effect last year. In a letter to employees and retirees, Goodyear indicated that USW retirees made up a significant portion of patients who used the practice.
The Goodyear Family Medical Center had been operated by Take Care Health Systems, which is continuing to operate an on-site clinic at another Goodyear facility in Alabama.
Goodyear would not say how many employees and retirees used the on-site services.
Cornwell, the former Goodyear pharmacist, said the on-site pharmacy filled the equivalent of about 500,000 prescriptions each year. Given those numbers, it's easy to see the attraction for area retailers.
''That's a lot of opportunity for those pharmacies around the area,'' Acme's Trout said.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com.
Some area pharmacies are competing to fill the void left by the recent closure of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s on-site medical facility.
Retail stores in the Akron area are aggressively trying to attract Goodyear employees and retirees who filled prescriptions at the Goodyear Family Medical Center, which closed at the end of last year.
One store — Klein's Pharmacy in Cuyahoga Falls — even hired a former Goodyear Family Medical Center pharmacist and has been advertising his addition to the staff in the hopes of attracting his former patients.
Pat Cornwell, 56, had been a pharmacist at the Goodyear clinic for seven years before joining Klein's this month.
''We were looking for a new pharmacist, so it served two purposes,'' Klein's Pharmacy President Barry Klein said of hiring Cornwell. ''We wanted to try to recruit some of the Goodyear business and, also, Pat was an excellent candidate.''
The strategy appears to be working.
''I've already had several of the patients contact me here,'' Cornwell said. ''I've actually talked to some patients who came in looking for me.''
Other retailers also are putting out the welcome mat, with newspaper ads and messages in front of their stores urging Goodyear employees and retirees to fill prescriptions inside.
The sign in front of the Walgreens at Brittain Road and Eastwood Avenue in Akron, for example, announces: ''Welcome Goodyear Rx.''
''We are accepting Goodyear patients, and we are seeing a number of new Goodyear patients,'' Walgreens spokeswoman Vivika Vergara said.
Acme Fresh Market stores throughout the region also have signs welcoming Goodyear employees and retirees.
''We can fill your prescription!'' the signs announce.
Since the Goodyear center closed, Acme pharmacies in Akron's Ellet neighborhood, plus Stow, Tallmadge and Cuyahoga Falls have had an increase in business, said Jim Trout, Acme's vice president of merchandising and sales.
Acme and other retail pharmacies have faced competition in recent years from mail-order pharmacies, which some insurers require enrollees to use for maintenance drugs.
''That's what put the pressure on us to fight for what's left,'' Trout said. ''Everybody's fighting for what's out there.''
Goodyear had been providing primary-care services to employees and retirees at the site on Goodyear Boulevard since 1989.
But the company couldn't offer the on-site medical services to United Steelworkers union retirees after a Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association trust, or VEBA, went into effect last year. In a letter to employees and retirees, Goodyear indicated that USW retirees made up a significant portion of patients who used the practice.
The Goodyear Family Medical Center had been operated by Take Care Health Systems, which is continuing to operate an on-site clinic at another Goodyear facility in Alabama.
Goodyear would not say how many employees and retirees used the on-site services.
Cornwell, the former Goodyear pharmacist, said the on-site pharmacy filled the equivalent of about 500,000 prescriptions each year. Given those numbers, it's easy to see the attraction for area retailers.
''That's a lot of opportunity for those pharmacies around the area,'' Acme's Trout said.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Akron, OH
Posted 09:57 AM, 01/07/2009
Goodyear, the elitists that want our millions, showing its true colors again.
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 10:28 AM, 01/07/2009
Goodyear employees & retirees should have know it would close once the VEBA became reality. They didn't get out of retiree healthcare services for nothing.
akron, oh
Posted 10:37 AM, 01/07/2009
U can advertise all you want. IT was all about location. They could skip over on a break or at lunch to drop off and pick up prescriptions.
They will go to whatever is close to were they live now.
