Allan Appel Photo
The former pizzeria, primed for pharmaceutical rebirth.
Grand Apizza has not quite yet been transformed into Grand Apharmacy, but it’s getting close.
By the end of this month the former pizzeria on Grand Avenue near East Pearl in Fair Haven, which was purchased by the Fair Haven Community Health Clinic (FHCHC), will reopen its doors and supply clients as well as the general public with prescription medication and other slices of life.
So FHCHC CEO Suzanne Lagarde reported to the Fair Haven Community Management Team at its monthly meeting last week at the Fair Haven Branch Library.
The expanding FHCHC is erecting a new building at James Street and Grand Avenue. In the process, a neighborhood pharmacy on that site was demolished.
The soon-to-open Grand Pharmacy down the street, which already has a satellite within the Shoreline Health Center in Branford, is wholly owned by Fair Haven Community Health Care. All profits will be reinvested into patient care, Lagarde said.
That’s the “big plus,” she said about filling one’s prescriptions there: It is a revenue source that helps the FHCHC, which turns down no one, whether under-insured or un-insured.
The pharmacy will include bilingual staff and pharmacists prepared to meet for one-on-one patient consultations; home delivery; and relationships with non-profits like Direct Relief that may be able to provide in the pharmacy products like sun screens, Tylenol, or their equivalents, according to Lagarde. She reported that they are “looking into offering durable medical equipment” for purchase in the pharmacy as well.
Because FHCHC participates in the federal 340‑B pricing program, “it enables us to buy medication at government prices, much below retail, and we reinvest profits. Every penny of profit is reinvested in the clinic to serve patients.”
The hours of operation are set, tentatively, for Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday morning. There’s a handicapped access from the parking lot, with 17 spots.
But no pepperoni.