Stennis Pharmacy fills needs for Kemper

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From special reports



October 16, 2019, was a dark day for Kemper County when the only Pharmacy (Fred's) in the county closed its doors and went out of business.

For local pharmacist Roy VanDevender, it was an especially sad day for his family.

"The day after the closure was the first day since 1950 that a member of our family had not been filling prescriptions in DeKalb" VanDevender said.

But soon there was hope on the horizon as ProxsysRX, INC. from Birmingham, Alabama began to express interest in opening a retail pharmacy in DeKalb. In the weeks to come ProxsysRX, which owns and operates pharmacies in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina as well as managing pharmacies in other states, announced that they would fund and open Stennis Community Pharmacy in DeKalb. The company opened the new store late last year. Now, there is a pharmacy open once again serve the needs of Kemper County.

The "Stennis" name comes from John C. Stennis Hospital and reflects the working relationship that Proxsys RX has with Rush Health Systems.

"We are excited to have Proxsys Rx in DeKalb to once again meet the needs of our customers". VanDevender said. "We salute our local, state, and federal leaders, KCEDA director Craig Hitt, Rush Health Systems and many others for the support and input in making this pharmacy a reality. It didn't take many visits by Proxsys RX representatives to Kemper County to realize that Kemper County would be a great place to be in business due to its people and tight knit community"

Brothers Jim and Roy VanDevender serve as full-time pharmacists at Stennis and have a highly experienced team of Pharmacy Techs on staff, as well as Rita Harbour and Claire Hunnicutt taking care of the OTC and front end of the pharmacy.



VanDevender added that whenever a new pharmacy opens, it has to be licensed by local, state, and federal agencies, as well as getting insurance contracts to bill patient's insurance. The local and state approval came incredibly fast, and the State Board of Pharmacy even gave its approval in one day. lnsurance vendors are a different story as it just takes time to go through the process to secure contracts and get where a pharmacy can bill one's insurance.

But now Stennis is wide open and can accept most major insurances including all forms of Mississippi Medicaid, OptumRx, Ambetter, United Health, as well as the major medicare part D plans such as Caremark, Humana, Envision, Wellcare, Silverscripts, etc and commercial insurance such as Blue Cross, State of Mississippi, Federal BlueCross, and also Tricare just to name a few.

The Stennis Community Pharmacy is located in the old Fred's location at 14916 highway 16 west in DeKalb and can be reached at 601-751-2350 with walk-in as well as drive through service. Hours are 8-6, Monday through Friday and 8-12:30p.m. Saturday. It is closed on Sundays.

"In this day of uncertainty, you can be certain that your prescriptions will be filed promptly and accurately by people you know who know you at Stennis pharmacy," VanDevender said. "It's easy to have prescriptions transferred back. We're proud to be back and hope to see all of our friends and neighbors back soon."






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