Students are now able to utilize Duke Vans for trips to the pharmacy during some weekend hours.
A new service—supported by Duke Student Government—will drive students to the CVS Pharmacy on Hillsborough Road each Saturday for the remainder of the semester from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The service will help those who need to access a pharmacy when the Student Health Center is not open. The service was a project of junior Billy Silk, DSG vice president for services, and sophomore Priyanka Venkannagari, senator for services.
“Because the Duke pharmacy is closed on weekends, it’s pretty much impossible for someone without a car or resources to get a cab to get medication, particularly for women who have had an unwanted sexual experience and need access to Plan B One Step [emergency contraceptive] but didn’t want to go to the hospital,” Silk said, noting that junior Keizra Mecklai, vice president of equity and outreach, helped identify this issue.
Silk then worked with Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta to find a solution to the problem. Among the several possible solutions, the decision to work with the Duke Vans service was reached in December 2014.
“We ended up coming to the conclusion that Duke Vans would be the best option for a couple reasons,” Silk said. “[There is] consistency and reliability, and the main reason was safety, because it’s a contracted driver and a Duke service, so there’s an extra layer of safety that is always ensured.”
CVS was not the first choice for the service, however. The Duke Children’s Hospital pharmacy was initially considered, but their hours did not match up with the Duke Vans’ schedule. CVS was chosen as a second option because it is both the closest and largest pharmacy near campus, Silk said.
The pharmacy van service will begin to run at 3 p.m. on Saturdays, two hours before the Duke Vans service usually starts. The service will be able to pick up students from anywhere on campus and will wait at the pharmacy as long as it takes the subscription to be filled. Vans can be called using the Duke RideCell website, which allows students to type in any location where a van will pick them up.
Moneta will cover half of the funding for the rest of the semester—on top of the $720 dollars allocated by the DSG Senate in a budgetary statute earlier this month. The money provided by DSG will come from the surplus fund.
“If this meets students' needs, it's worthwhile. Health care is critical, especially for students who may not be well, and if this enables students' health improvements and ability to avoid missing academic work, its a good thing,” Moneta said.
Alison Carpenter, transit planner and transportation demand manager for Duke Parking and Transportation, helped organize the logistics of the project. She explained that these kinds of student government projects are things that Parking is ready and willing to work with.
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