Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital donates building to Beacon Charitable Pharmacy

Beacon Charitable Pharmacy will soon have a new home.

Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital has donated a former physician's office building to the charitable pharmacy. The 5,800-square-foot space is located at 2525 13th Street NW in Canton. It has not been used in several years.

"It's a generous gift," Beacon Charitable Pharmacy Executive Director Carol Risaliti said. "We will own a building. We will be in a high traffic area. We will be close to both Canton hospitals. We will be within three to five miles of many, many physician practices."

Beacon currently rents 4,100 square feet of space at the Ken Weber Goodwill Community Campus on 9th Street SW. The pharmacy plans to move into its new location before the end of the year, with the process starting in October.

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Risaliti said the building has excellent access to Interstate 77, U.S. Route 62 and U.S. Route 30, as well as a nearby bus stop. The new location will increase the pharmacy's visibility and accessibility.

Beacon plans to spend more than $1 million to renovate the building. Risaliti said the organization will be able to design the facility so it functions well with the pharmacy's operations.

The larger building will enable the charitable pharmacy to expand services, which include a pharmacy, immunizations, counseling, education about medication and assistance with problems that affect health, such as addiction and food insecurity.

“We are pleased to be putting this building back to use for the benefit of the community and to an organization that traces its roots to Mercy Hospital’s founders, the Sisters of Charity Foundation,” Mercy Hospital President Dr. Timothy Crone said in a prepared statement. “Beacon Charitable Pharmacy does life-changing work in helping match donated medications with people who truly need them.”

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Beacon started in 2002 as the Prescription Assistance Network of Stark County, funded by the Sisters of Charity Foundation and the Austin-Bailey Health and Wellness Foundation. It is one of only a handful of charitable pharmacies in the state.

Beacon provides access to medication to residents of Stark, Carroll and Lorain counties with low or moderate incomes. The organization helped more than 2,300 uninsured and underinsured residents receive nearly 25,000 prescriptions in 2022, with a wholesale value of more than $4 million.

Donations account for 95% of the medications dispensed by Beacon. State law previously allowed only nursing homes, long-term care pharmacies and wholesalers to donate unused medication for redistribution, but a bill passed earlier this year will soon enable charitable pharmacies, hospitals and nonprofit clinics to accept prescription drugs from individuals.

Risaliti said Beacon will be able to start accepting donations May 25.

The law was initially set to go into effect April 6.

To contact Beacon Charitable Pharmacy, call 330-445-1087.

Reach Paige at 330-580-8577, pmbennett@gannett.com or on Twitter @paigembenn.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Cleveland Clinic Mercy donates building to Beacon Charitable Pharmacy