This story was originally published on LincolnChronicle.org and is used with permission.
The projected January opening of a Samaritan Health Services retail pharmacy in Newport will be a welcome development in a community left with fewer options after major pharmacy closures in 2025 and 2026.
The new pharmacy will be located at the corner of Southwest 11th and Case streets, just east of Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital. The now-empty lot is owned by the Pacific Communities Health District; Samaritan will own the new building.
The $1.2 million project includes a new 1,800-square-foot modular structure for both walk-in and drive-through service, as well as parking.
Opening a pharmacy in Newport had been on the radar of Megan Jones, Samaritan’s interim chief pharmacy officer, for the past few years. The back-to-back shuttering of the Rite Aid and Safeway pharmacies added urgency to the project.
“As we have seen our local pharmacies close, the community and our providers were asking what we can do to take care of our patients,” Jones told the Lincoln Chronicle. “It became apparent that we would need to step in and build this role. It has definitely been on our radar for the past several years and it has become a real pressing issue in the last year.”
In 2025, Samaritan opened a retail pharmacy adjacent to its Lincoln City hospital, providing hospital officials with some lessons learned that Jones said will be useful to the Newport launch.
“I knew our Lincoln City pharmacy would be popular and an asset to the community, but it grew a lot faster than anticipated and I am taking that lesson learned and preparing for our Newport pharmacy to grow fast,” she explained.
Jones said she hopes to open with three full-time pharmacists and four to six pharmacy technicians. The business will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.
Although the pharmacy will share some similarities with other retail pharmacies, there will be unique aspects to the operation thanks to its connection with the Samaritan system. The pharmacy will share the same electronic medical record as the patient’s provider, giving pharmacists the opportunity to review notes or track an order’s progress.
Jones said the location will be particularly advantageous to hospital patients.
“This pharmacy will also be the one that prepares medication for patients when they discharge from the hospital,” she said, noting a desire to get patients back home sooner after discharge. “Having it close to the hospital is important for convenience for the healthcare team to get those meds to patients.”
Although the search for a site involved a variety of locations, hospital officials were “very thankful to the health district” for the use of this site. Current plans anticipate site work to take place in November and December. Around that same time, Samaritan’s merger with Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System is expected to be finalized. While MultiCare has no role in the pharmacy project, Jones is confident they share the same commitment to the community.
“While MultiCare hasn’t been directly involved in this project, they are very passionate about bringing access to healthcare to the community and to the patient where they need it,” she commented. “I think this is a project that MultiCare would support because this is part of their mission as well.
Once open, Samaritan Pharmacy services will include filling prescriptions, vaccinations, medication therapy management, needle disposal, and drug take-back bins. There will be some over-the-counter medications for sale, but not the food and merchandise typically found in corporate-owned retail pharmacies.
