Race is on to improve International District’s ‘pharmacy desert’

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series examining a lack of pharmacies plaguing Albuquerque’s International District. The first story, “International District has become an urban ‘pharmacy desert,’” can be accessed here.

Grabbing a prescription is likely taken a bit for granted by the average Albuquerque resident. There are pharmacy choices, it seems, at just about every major city intersection — a Smith’s, Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and so on — often accompanied by a convenient drive-thru option. Those with sufficient insurance coverage or extra cash on hand can opt for doorstep deliveries.

But the picture is a vastly more complicated and potentially perilous one for thousands of residents living in the city’s International District — an area that has become an urban “pharmacy desert.”

“It’s something I’ve been trying to mention every time we talk about food deserts,” Nichole Rogers said. “We have a pharmacy desert, a school supply desert, and other things that are not available in our community.

Rogers is the city councilor representing District 6, which includes the International District — generally defined as the area bounded by the boulevards of Lomas to the north, Gibson to the south, Wyoming to the east and San Mateo to the west. 

After recent high-profile closures of Walgreens, CVS and Walmart, the low-income area with an underserved population now has more than 25,000 residents unable to access a pharmacy within a reasonable walking distance, according to an analysis by Albuquerque’s Health Equity Council. Those most affected are older adults, those with disabilities, those who are precariously housed or experiencing homelessness, and residents who don’t own vehicles or aren’t able to drive. The district has the largest concentration of transit-dependent residents in the state.

Officials say the potential health consequences of limited pharmacy access include skipping medicine doses or taking a lower dose, which can cause long-lasting health issues, increased hospitalization rates, higher treatment costs and death.

What can be done?

Rogers and the Health Equity Council have proposed solutions that fall into the short and long term. 

“The immediate thing we can do to help is educate the community about pharmacy and food delivery services,” Rogers said.

She proposes city-sponsored events at community centers and other locations — “rolling block parties” — where representatives with laptops are dispatched to vulnerable areas to sign up residents with companies like Express Scripts for example — a pharmacy benefit manager that offers online processing and delivery of prescriptions. There are also delivery options through Walgreens, CVS and others, including services like Instacart and DoorDash.

Rogers said she’s seen it done in the past for resources like rental assistance, free phones and Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security benefits.

“How do we get that information out and actually sit with people and help them do it?” she said. “It’s very easy for people to throw their hands up. We just need to be proactive and help them and teach them that they can do it.”

For those without a stable address, such as the precariously housed or those experiencing homelessness, Rogers would like to see more partnerships with churches and nonprofits like Lutheran Family Services and Catholic Charities of Central New Mexico that provide mailboxes.

“We need more of those to allow folks to use an address to get mail and allow them times to come and get mail,” she said.

‘People need medicine now’

It’s widely thought that Walgreens, CVS and Walmart closed in the International District at least in part due to high levels of shoplifting and other crime, as well as a perceived lack of law enforcement presence. But short of improvements to public safety and infrastructure (green spaces, crosswalks, lighting), any speedy return of a large commercial pharmacy is unlikely.

“I have not heard about any conversations with [Walgreens, CVS and Walmart] saying they want to reopen at some point,” Rogers said. “‘They just haven’t wanted to really negotiate.”

Rogers said she believes Walmart, for example, is holding out for the highest bidder for its massive former site near Central Avenue and San Mateo Boulevard. She said she’s heard of asking prices ranging from $6 million to $15 million for the property.

“The bottom line is we do need to attract another pharmacy to the area, but that’s a longer-term proposition,” Rogers said. “People need medicine now.” 

Meanwhile, the Health Equity Council has identified seven potential sites near public transit and in the most challenging socioeconomic area of the International District for a pharmacy. 

“It would provide the most bang for the buck,” Janus Herrera, a health promotion specialist at the organization who has studied the issue, said.

She’d like to see the city provide economic incentives to developers or acquire real estate to help attract a new pharmacy.

“The city could provide cheaper rent if they own the building,” Herrera said. “Or the city could say: ‘We’ll rent it to you, but we’ll take care of fixing the building.’ Maybe they provide a stipend for anti-theft measures.”

The city’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency said that for properties within its purview, it offers a redevelopment tax abatement incentive to developers. 

“The RTA program offers a tax freeze for reactivating/redeveloping vacant commercial space into an active use,” MRA spokesperson Sarah Supple said. 

Supple said, however, that there are not any MRA programs that specifically target pharmacy uses.