MINDEN, Iowa (KMTV) — Tuesday was a sad day for customers of Lehan's Pharmacy in Minden. Almost five months after a tornado devastated the community its local pharmacy closed.
- The building where Lehan Pharmacy is located has to be torn down because of tornado damage. It was the final straw for this small business.
- Owners Rick and Tina Dotzler say reimbursement rates from insurance make it hard to keep a small pharmacy open.
- “Tornado was an accelerator. It’s not the problem,” said Minden physician, Dr. Glenn Hurst.
- By coincidence, several members of the KMTV staff got the first COVID-19 vaccine at Lehan Pharmacy in 2021. Here's the related story: 3 News Now reporter Kent Luetzen's complete COVID-19 vaccine journey
Short version of story:
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
This is the last time that Minden Neighbors will be able to do this. (Opens pharmacy door.) I’m your Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel. Lehan Pharmacy is closing its doors for good here. The latest blow following the April tornado.
Neighbors like Mel Hursey were stopping by the pharmacy to say “thanks.”
“At least I made it down before they slammed the door,” he said.
The building next door, which shares a wall with the pharmacy, sustained too much tornado damage. It all has to come down. The final straw for this family-owned business.
“We’ve also been hearing a lot of people say ‘thank you for staying as long as you have’,” said pharmacist and owner, Tina Dotzler.
In an industry already coping with slim profit margins.
Rick Dotzler: "The more long-term issue has been with insurance companies or pharmacy benefit managers not paying pharmacies enough to pay the bills.”
Pharmacists Rick and Tina Dotzler have another pharmacy more than 20 miles away in Harlan. Customers will either have to go there or drive over 20 miles to Council Bluffs.
That’s a problem and not unique to Minden, says the town’s only family practitioner, Dr. Glenn Hurst.
“Tornado was an accelerator. It’s not the problem,” he said.
Hurst calls it a “huge loss” for his patients. A rural medicine specialist he says two rural pharmacies close each day in the United States. For him, mail-order isn’t the solution.
"I have a hard time recommending using a mail-in pharmacy because that’s the reason, one of the reasons, that all of our rural pharmacies are closing,” said Hurst.
There is state and national legislation that could help local pharmacies, but it's arrived too late to help in Minden.
It’s noon, and Lehan’s is officially closed. It’s just another change on Main Street five months after the tornado. I’m your southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel, in Minden.
