LETTER TO THE EDITOR BY DESMOND ELIOT
It is ridiculous that UMaine has a pub in the middle of its campus, but no pharmacy. While I appreciate there being a place for of-age students to drink responsibly on campus, I can’t help but question the other services that were passed over in favor of a bar.
In the wake of the UnitedHealthcare assassination and Joe Biden leaving office, I’ve been thinking more about what the University has (and hasn’t) been doing to service student healthcare needs. I have a drug prescription, but as a first year student, I don’t own a car nor do I have any friends willing to drive me to Hannaford once a month when my prescription gets filled. Twice since moving onto campus, I have made a roughly two-hour excursion trekking
through the forest trail system to Hannaford’s pharmacy. Most recently, I needed to pick up a prescription the day after a snowfall, which took about an hour out and over an hour to walk back. I took the bike path there, most of which was paved and (partially) snow plowed at around 2 p.m. after my last class of the day had ended. Yet, the walk was complicated by the lack of a crosswalk on Stillwater Avenue to reach the complex in which Hannaford is located, necessitating running through a busy intersection twice in order to fill a prescription.
Now, I personally can handle the walk, being of able body and only needing refills once a month. But weather events and traffic obstacles could easily inhibit students who are physically disabled in some way, or students picking up prescriptions on a more regular basis than just once a month. And while you could pay for an Uber, students shouldn’t be expected to shell out an additional 15 to 40 bucks to pick up prescriptions they rely upon to live or function. Getting prescriptions mailed onto campus also presents a risk (if your pharmacy even ships prescriptions in the first place). If a student needs an urgent change in their prescription or if there is a shipping issue, then they could face a gap in medication.
It seems that the best option would be taking the Bangor Community Connector into a pharmacy, but even that still presents a clear accessibility issue, and with many routes only operating Monday through Friday until 6 to 7 p.m. I’m taking courses next semester running as late as 9 p.m. Students shouldn’t need to choose between making it to class and receiving medicines essential to their wellbeing. It often feels as though the University Administration is more concerned with attracting new students, with things like a campus bar, than they are with providing essential services to the ones currently paying tuition.
As of this fall, Wells Central now offers “eatNOW at UMaine,” a limited convenience store running autonomously, meaning there is no checkout or employees. It offers extortionate Sodexo prices for a selection less varied than an airport convenience store. I can’t help but think that if some of the space currently occupied by Central Pub could be used to replace eatNOW with a full service pharmacy/convenience store, employing real humans rather than robots, it might be a better use of campus space and university resources. I think even those withoutprescription needs would still benefit from a convenience store with more over-the-counter drugs than just ibuprofen. Even if it’s outside of Wells, it should be a top priority for the University to bring pharmaceutical services within a 10 to 15-minute walk of campus.
