Sara Tiradossi / Winonan

The former location of Parkview Pharmacy at Winona State University will soon be replaced by a food shelf, according to Winona State Student Senate President Nicole Zimmerman.

The president’s cabinet estimated that it could be completed anywhere from mid October to November, but the construction has yet to start, Zimmerman said.

“Half of the pharmacy will be turned into a food pantry. They’re working on how to make it private and a comfortable place for people to come and get food that students need,” Zimmerman said. “The other half of the old pharmacy is going to be more of an open space people can use if they need, until it is determined its permanent home.”

According to director of health and wellness services Connie Kamara, the idea of starting a food shelf came from one of the nurse practitioners on campus who had seen several students struggling with food insecurity.

“We’re excited for the food shelf because we have seen students coming here and passing out, students who hadn’t eaten in days, so it is something that has demonstrated need for a while,” Kamara said. “It will be nice to see it once it’s running. Finding the space for the food shelf was the most difficult commodity.”

As for the Winona State students, faculty and staff who used the pharmacy, all the existing prescriptions from the old pharmacy are now automatically transferred to Winona Health, Zimmerman said.

Kamara said health services is creating an awareness and education campaign, letting people know that delivery is available from different pharmacies.

“The pharmacies that will deliver on campus are Winona Health, Hy-vee and Goltz,” Kamara said.

Kamara added how the switch happened immediately after the end of last semester, but the Parkview Pharmacy still exists at Winona Health.

“If students were clients at Winona State’s Parkview Pharmacy, their record would still be with Parkview at Winona Health,” Kamara said. “But they can choose to go anywhere at any time.”

According to Kamara, health and wellness services also wants students to know that they will now need to provide their current pharmacy’s phone number, the name of the medication and prescription number they need transferred to the “new” pharmacy at which they want to fill the prescription.

The former pharmacy itself also sent information to those who used the pharmacy on campus, letting them know that it had moved to Winona Health, Kamara said.

“I think it works out really well. Prior to this shift, it was a nice convenience to have it located here, but now that a few pharmacies in town can deliver on campus, students have the same service if not better because everything is delivered to them,” Kamara said.

Health services has not received any negative feedback, and the students coming into health services seemed comfortable using the delivery services so far, Kamara said.

For those students who do not have easy access to the pharmacies downtown, the student senate committee has now made a formal recommendation to administration and staff advocating for more public transportation around Winona and a possible shuttle service, Zimmerman said.

At the meeting, President Olson said if a lot of students came forward with concerns on how to reach the pharmacies or the public transportation not being accessible in general, then they would definitely look into it.

“The hope is that students still have the convenience through the delivery service, and yet the space will be used for something else that is really needed on campus,” Kamara said.

-By Sara Tiradossi