by Natalia Kirychuk, Student Public Relations Writer
After 12 weeks of hard work, the transformation from hardware store to pharmacy is complete. Open houses will be held on Tuesday, January 15; Monday, January 21; and Saturday, January 26. The pharmacy is expected to officially open its doors in February.
The project that transformed the hardware store into the new pharmacy took just over three months to complete. The project was initially going to be a simple remodel but soon turned into something much bigger. The building, constructed in 1892, needed new floors, more structural support and lots of repairs.
“We ended up going down beneath the floor and up through the ceiling to do repairs,” said Rod Johnson, Cedarville University’s associate vice president for operations. “The end result closely resembles the design that was drawn up. I am extremely pleased with the outcome.”
The new facility has lots of inventory and warehouse space, along with medication consultation rooms and a large open waiting area.
“When we started designing the new pharmacy, one of the first things we wanted to do was to make sure we didn't outgrow the space as soon as we moved in,” said Dr. Jeb Ballentine, pharmacist at Cedar Care. “We wanted to make sure we had space to grow, not only in the volume of business, but also in the services offered,” he added.
“I am very pleased with the ample space in the prescription area itself, which should allow for a very efficient workflow but also give us plenty of space as our number of prescriptions filled continues to grow. I am also excited about our patient care rooms that will allow our pharmacists to offer state-of-the-art clinical services.”
Cedar Care will be a clinical rotation site starting spring semester 2019 for pharmacy students.
“One of the cool and exciting things about Cedar Care Village Pharmacy and our relationship with the Cedarville School of Pharmacy, as well as the school's Center for Pharmacy Innovation, is that we have no idea where this will all take us,” said Ballentine. “We will continue to grow and change as the profession of pharmacy and health care in general changes, so it's really exciting to think what the pharmacy here could one day become!”
Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 4,193 undergraduate, graduate and online students in more than 150 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, strong graduation and retention rates, accredited professional and health science offerings and leading student satisfaction ratings. For more information about the University, visit www.cedarville.edu.