ALEXANDRIA, Va. (March 17, 2021) — The National Community Pharmacists Association is pleased to announce that McCoy-Tygart Drug in Sheridan, Ark., has earned the 2021 NCPA Innovation Center Excellence Award for Best COVID-19 External Modification. This is the fourth year of the NICE Awards competition, which was created to recognize pharmacies for their efforts to enhance their value, promote their services, and better serve their communities. The NICE Awards are sponsored by QS/1.
“Congratulations to McCoy-Tygart Drug for earning the NICE Award for Best COVID-19 External Modification,” said Kurt Proctor, PhD, RPh, president of the NCPA Innovation Center. “The NICE Awards spotlight the best of community pharmacy branding and marketing – the innovations and redesigns that have made promotions more effective and patients’ experiences more rewarding. When it became clear that the coronavirus would change the world as we knew it, the McCoy-Tygart team jumped to action, quickly reimagining the pharmacy and adapting to safely take care of patients. We’re glad to recognize them for their hard work.”
McCoy-Tygart Drug is landlocked in a strip mall with a grocery store on one side and a pizza restaurant on the other, so there’s no room for a drive-thru. Pharmacy owner Donald “Sparky” Hedden got in touch with Little Rock Tent and Awning Company, which installed a 30-feet by 40-feet temporary drive-thru tent in the parking lot. Hedden then hired about 10 college and high school students as “runners.” They were out of school because of the pandemic. With the tent in place, as cars would drive up, the students would use forms to note the make and model of the vehicles, get the prescription information from the patients, bring it into the pharmacy, have the prescriptions filled, and take them to the register to ring them up. The students would then deliver the medicine to patients in the parking lot.
“We had great feedback,” Hedden says of the service. “People appreciated us taking care of their safety and the safety of our own staff.”
The store reopened for walk-in business in August, with plexiglass installed, mask-wearing required, and a detailed cleaning and sanitizing schedule in place.
McCoy-Tygart Drug was established in 1895, with Hedden purchasing ownership stake in 1984. Its products and services include standard retail, immunizations, medication synchronization, durable medical equipment, over the counter products, free local delivery, gift shop, wedding and baby registry, and tuxedo rental.
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Founded in 1898, the National Community Pharmacists Association is the voice for the community pharmacist, representing more than 21,000 pharmacies that employ 250,000 individuals nationwide. Community pharmacies are rooted in the communities where they are located and are among America's most accessible health care providers. To learn more, visit www.ncpa.org.
