SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — It’s that time of year when the weather starts to get colder and different allergies and illnesses start to ramp up leaving pharmacies to deal with many more patients each day.

Right now, many locally-owned pharmacies are doing what they can to keep up with the high demand. 

Erica Mahn with Alps Pharmacy said that one of the great things about its business is that they are family-owned.

“So here at this store, we try to focus on staffing and what best takes care of the patients and what supports our staff. In a busy stressful day, you want to know there’s, someone to fall back on or be able to take a step aside and do that break or take a lunch when you need to,” said Mahn.

Across the country, many of the bigger pharmacies are struggling with staffing and Mahn said since they are family businesses, they have more flexibility to take care of their workers so they can continue to put patients first. 

Mahn said they can fill up to 1,000 prescriptions a day, with several other services the pharmacy provides including vaccinations, drive-through, and clinical services. 

Right now, Mahn said they’ve had a lot of patients dealing with strep and the flu but she tells me it’s nothing the pharmacy can’t handle. 

“The biggest thing is how we deal with it with our workflow. We try to work ahead as much as we can to prepare for and with someone walking in and wanting all of their regular medication and that leaves time for things that can go unexpectedly. That leaves times for vaccines and anti-biotics and things to be filled where even if it’s unexpected, we have the workload down in the background to be prepared for it,” said Mahn. 

Mahn said some helpful tips for patients needing their medication is to call ahead and schedule a time to pick up your medication. So they can work ahead and limit your wait time.