Continuing push to restore pharmacy services
An ad hoc group of volunteers have made some progress working with Deputy Supervisor Meg Larsen in an effort to bring prescription services back to the Island.
Ms. Larsen told the Health & Wellness Committee last Friday the group has identified a person with experience in prescriptions and mental health. That person imagines a venue that would encompass both disciplines, with a pharmacist and a nurse practitioner, she said.
It won’t happen overnight, Ms. Larsen said. There are critical steps to be achieved, including locating a building that can accommodate both services and locating housing for professionals who would be staffing that building.
Another critical step is to get Shelter Island certified as a “naturally occurring retirement community,” (NORC), making it eligible for funding through a program offered through the Suffolk County Office for the Aging. NORC is a sociological term for places that developed without much consideration of an aging population, especially with programs to allow seniors to age in place. The funding will provide case management to help the Island’s large senior population.
Money is not currently available from the Office for the Aging, but it will be restored, and Ms. Larsen has been speaking with contacts there who have been guiding her in her preparation to apply when money flows again, she said.
