As retail drug store chains in and around Dorchester close, Uphams Community Care has become the latest community health center to step up and bridge the growing gap of prescriptions services. Last Tuesday (May 7 , the Columbia Road facility welcomed state and city representatives and community members to celebrate the expansion of its 14-year-old pharmacy with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a refurbished space inside the health center at 415 Columbia Rd.

“In an era where our for-profit pharmacies are shutting their doors and making pharmacy deserts in our neighborhood, we are stepping forward,” said Jagdeep (Jay) Trivedi, CEO of Uphams Community Care, previously known as Uphams Corner Health Center.. “We are not looking at profit margins, we are looking at what our community needs and deserves.” 

A recent addition to the Uphams pharmacy is the Parata Max automated medicine dispensing system, which sorts, counts, labels, and caps prescriptions. 

“Instead of a human counting the medication, it counts it automatically. When a prescription is billed, the signal goes to the machine to count the medication then the medication comes out all in a vial, counted, and closed,” said pharmacy director Marina Rabinovich, who noted .
While some may be surprised to see the smaller size of the pharmacy waiting room, with the Parata Max, the pharmacists promise prescriptions will be ready within 15 minutes of being ordered. 

Patients can request items by calling the pharmacy at 617-265-1310 or visiting one of the windows in the pharmacy waiting room. “We can bring anything the community needs and can do personal orders,” Rabinovich told the Reporter. She added, “We’re also ordering medication with a next-day delivery so you can pop-in and say I want this product and we can order it.” 

To enhance accessibility, the pharmacy offers a delivery service from Monday through Friday within a ten-mile radius of the center.

State Rep. Christopher Worrell was on hand to offers a “thank you to Uphams Community Care and the entire staff for recognizing the lack of resources in our community and doing everything in your power to rectify the safety and well-being of our community.”

The pharmacy is located on the first floor of the health center and is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, from 9 to 5 on Fridays, and from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturdays.