Dr. Emmanuel Ayanjoke has made history in Avondale, an underserved community in Cincinnati. He is the owner of Altev Community Pharmacy, which is now the only pharmacy in the area and black-owned.
He launched the pharmacy with the financial backing of McKesson, a health care company. As per WCPO, Altev Community Pharmacy is part of McKesson’s pilot program, Project Oasis, which seeks to empower and support pharmacy professionals to own and operate independent community pharmacies in underserved communities.
Altev Community Pharmacy, which held its grand opening this month, provides a free discount program that slashes prices to make healthcare more accessible. “It’s all about our patients,” Ayanjoke said. “It’s all about our dedication to their care.”
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The launch of the community pharmacy is the first in 17 years, according to community leaders, and it is the only pharmacy in their neighborhood.
“It means a lot for the community, for our community, because we have a lot of Black people in our community,” said Avondale Community Leader Quentin Taylor. “They don’t have cars. They can’t get to [their] medicine.”
Taylor added that having a black pharmacist in the community will not only break down barriers but will also create trust between the Black community and the healthcare system.
“Because it makes the Black people comfortable, coming to the pharmacy … talking to him every day and he understands where we come from,” Taylor said, according to WCPO.
One of Ayanjoke’s patients, Wanda White, praised him for his prompt response to patients. “Sometimes I don’t want to do like the doctor tells me to do, but he’s on it, he’s like ‘Now, Wanda, you know you’re supposed to be doing this,” White said. “He takes the time to go through every one of my prescriptions for me.”
Also, Avondale Community Council President, Sandra Jones Mitchell is a regular customer at Altev Community Pharmacy.
“He also told me some things that I didn’t know about my medicine. There was some I was taking at night I should have took in the morning, right, and so my doctor never caught that,” she said.
