CHESHIRE, Conn. — Of course, the shortage of personal protective equipment, required for use by doctors and nurses has been a hot topic for weeks.
But, a Cheshire-based long term care pharmacy is helping to fill another need.
Pro Care Long-Term Care Pharmacy in Cheshire primarily supplies nursing homes with medications. But, with the shortage of hand sanitizer, they went to work.
A 5-gallon bucket, in a compounding room, is where the Pro-Care team mixes the ingredients to make their newest product,
“We service about 60 nursing homes here in Connecticut, about 70 in Massachusetts and probably 100 in New York,” said Greg Czapiga, VP, Sales and Marketing for Pro Care Pharmacy, VP, Sales/Marketing.
A couple of weeks ago, Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Connecticut) lifted the restriction on pharmacies regarding mass compounding. So now, even ones without a manufacturing licenses can produce. So, Pro Care Pharmacy took advantage of the opportunity.
“Over that weekend, I was looking at the formulas,” said Tom Simenson a
Pro Care Pharmacy pharmacist. “Seeing how we can expand those formulas to get them mass-produced.”
He says the companies Massachusetts pharmacy was able to source out the alcohol needed to make the hand sanitizer.
“We were able to get the other ingredients here,” said Simenson. ”And, in about a week, which would’ve been this Monday or so, kind of had it ready to go.”
And, all week they’ve been producing. Once the ingredients are blended, they let it sit for a couple of hours and then they mix it every 10 minutes or so.
“Now we’re doing about 5 gallons at a time and we can do about from this location about 2 to 3 productions a day,” said Simenson.
And, it’s not just doctors and nurses they’re focused on.
“Even to the maintenance people of the building,” Simenson said. “The janitorial staff. The people that are cleaning the rooms. They are very important and they need to be protected also.”
Because they’ve had so much success, Pro Care is looking at the possibility of expanding their client base, as it relates to hand sanitizer.