Walgreens Offers Medication Preparedness Advice with Hurricane Sandy on Path for East Coast

DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As officials across the East Coast closely monitor the approach of Hurricane Sandy, Walgreens and Duane Reade drugstores are offering the following tips for assuring prescription needs are met for those potentially impacted by the storm.

1. In the event of evacuation, get to a safe location first and refill your medication at the nearest pharmacy. This allows you to avoid potentially long lines at your local pharmacy, and you won’t needlessly delay your evacuation. Walgreens has more than 7,900 locations nationwide and all locations can access your patient record, making any Walgreens your neighborhood Walgreens. Patients can find the nearest store by calling 1-800-WALGREENS, going to Walgreens.com or downloading the Walgreens application for your mobile device. Duane Reade, part of the Walgreens family of companies, has more than 250 locations in the New York metropolitan area.

2. Take a waterproof bag with your current medication - even if the bottle is empty. The information on the prescription label will help the pharmacist refill your medicine once you arrive at your destination. Heat, humidity and sunlight can degrade the effectiveness of medicine, so try to protect it from extreme weather conditions.

3. Keep a written record of your current prescriptions in your valuable papers file. If you’re taking several prescription drugs, it’s an especially good idea to keep a record of your current dosage and doctor’s contact information. Walgreens patients can register online at Walgreens.com and print out this information directly from their patient profile.

Smartphone users can register for Walgreens mobile applications to conveniently order prescription refills while on the go and easily locate the nearest Walgreens pharmacy. Customers with smartphones also can utilize Walgreens prescription refill-by-scan feature by scanning the bar code on their pill bottle with their phones. Customers can send the prescription refill to their nearest pharmacy and receive a text message alert when it’s ready to pick up. For registration or more information on Walgreens mobile applications, visit www.walgreens.com/gomobile.

Walgreens also is a member of ICERx.org (In Case of Emergency Prescriptions), a secure prescription information network available to pharmacists and doctors during a national emergency. As a member, Walgreens pharmacists can fill prescriptions and access information for hurricane-affected patients even if the patient normally uses another pharmacy.

Walgreens also collaborates with Rx Response (www.rxresponse.org), an initiative of the biopharmaceutical supply system, to help ensure patient access to medications following a natural disaster. The relationship centers around the Rx Response Pharmacy Status Reporting Tool (PSRT) and enhancements made to the tool as a result of the Rx Response-Walgreens relationship. The PSRT is an online program that allows emergency managers and the public to readily locate open pharmacies in communities that have been impacted by severe weather or other events.

About Walgreens

As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2012 sales of $72 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to become America’s first choice for health and daily living. Each day, Walgreens provides nearly 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 7,944 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.

About Duane Reade

Founded in 1960, Duane Reade is the largest drug store chain in New York City. In keeping with the company’s brand vision of New York Living Made Easy, Duane Reade provides New Yorkers with prescriptions, health products and services, beauty products and services, food and convenience items for daily life in the City … everything for “How I Feel,” “How I Look,” and “What I Need Now.” Duane Reade, part of the Walgreens family of companies, operates 250+ stores throughout the metropolitan New York Region.