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Jacksonville council members seek solutions after pharmacy closure<\/p>\n
Families on Jacksonville\u2019s Northside are facing increased challenges in accessing prescription medications following the closure of two Walgreens stores in the area. Community members and local leaders are sounding the alarm, saying the closures are creating dangerous delays, particularly for elderly and low-income residents.<\/p>\n
One of the most recent closures was the Walgreens on Soutel Drive, just off the Paxon Parkway. For many in the area, the shutdown means longer travel times, fewer options, and growing frustration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish there was something that we could do to keep them open. We need\u2014we need Walgreens,\u201d said local resident Alexis Babbs.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Both the Gateway and Soutel Walgreens locations in District 10 have now closed, leaving just one Walgreens in the area to serve thousands of residents.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re probably talking about, you know, 50 or 60,000 people within that radius who utilize Walgreens,\u201d said District 10 City Council Member JuCoby Pittman.<\/p>\n The lack of access is hitting vulnerable populations the hardest.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the closing of them, it makes it very unfortunate for a lot of our elderly people\u2014even the younger people who need to pick up those medicines,\u201d Babbs added.<\/p>\n Adding to the strain, Harvey\u2019s Supermarkets are being converted into Aldi locations, eliminating yet another resource for daily essentials in the community.<\/p>\n Local leaders say the impact is already being felt. Some residents are reportedly waiting days or even weeks to get critical prescriptions filled.<\/p>\n In response, Council Member Reggie Gaffney Jr. has scheduled a public notice meeting for tomorrow at 4 p.m. in the Don Davis Room at City Hall. He will be joined by fellow council members and representatives from the Mayor\u2019s administration to discuss the closures affecting Districts 8, 10, and 14, and to seek actionable solutions.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo Walgreens have closed in his district, and Councilman Rahman Johnson said that he\u2019s having issues in his district, and I know that they\u2019re having some issues in Arlington as well,\u201d Pittman noted.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n In October 2024, Walgreens announced a plan to close 1,200 stores across the U.S. over a three-year span. However, the company has not responded to confirm whether the recent closures in Jacksonville are part of that national plan.<\/p>\n Some residents are encouraging others to be proactive in finding alternative ways to access their medications.<\/p>\n \u201cThis shouldn\u2019t be the only entity to come and get your meds. That\u2019s absurd,\u201d said local resident Antoine Irving, who is calling for neighbors to seek out nearby options.<\/p>\n \u201cGet a vehicle or get your grandkids to take you to CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, or you need to get your meds. There\u2019s no such thing as \u2018I can\u2019t\u2019 in America,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Council Member Pittman said she has already been in communication with Walgreens in hopes of finding solutions for those affected.<\/p>\n She told Action News Jax that more details will be shared during future conversations.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacksonville council members seek solutions after pharmacy closure Families on Jacksonville\u2019s Northside are facing increased challenges in accessing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":245877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7347,7310,130093,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,65813],"class_list":{"0":"post-245876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-free-action-news-jax","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-prescription-medications","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa","20":"tag-walgreens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115246966033057742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}