Activists protest outside of CVS headquarters, over what they say is 'corporate greed'
A group of activists from around the country gathered outside CVS' corporate headquarters in Woonsocket on Thursday to decry what they described as "corporate greed."
The protest was lead by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a national group whose members had traveled from states including Georgia, Ohio and New York. But their concern is an issue that can affect people with any kind of health condition: pharmacy deserts.
Like "food deserts," in the case of grocery stores, the term refers refers to urban neighborhoods that have no pharmacies within a mile or less, making it harder for low-income residents to get the medications they need.
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That's especially problematic for people with chronic conditions like HIV/AIDS, but "it could be your grandmother" who's affected, said Imara Canady of the the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
The group says that CVS' expansion into areas that have traditionally been served by local, independent pharmacies makes it hard for those pharmacies to compete, and often forces them out of business.
"It's repulsive," Canady said. He described witnessing this pattern in his mother's neighborhood in Atlanta, where CVS opened up across the street from a "wonderful independent pharmacist." That pharmacist is now at risk of having to close her doors because she can't compete with a "corporate conglomerate," Canady said.
In that case, the neighborhood will continue to be served by a pharmacy, of course. But Canady said that something is lost when people are no longer able to rely on a personal relationship with a pharmacist with whom they're comfortable and can turn to for health-care advice.
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"CVS is is really putting profit before people," Canady said. "They're like vampires, just sucking the lifeblood out of our communities."
In an email to The Providence Journal, CVS spokesman Michael DeAngelis said that organization's claims were "either misleading or flatly untrue."
The group operates its own specialty pharmacies, "so their 'protest' has a hidden competitive motive," DeAngelis said. He cited a study from health-care analytics firm Quest Analytics that used data from the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs and found that the number of independent pharmacies nationwide has actually increased by almost 13% since 2011.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Protest held outside CVS headquarters by AIDS Healthcare Foundation
