Posted: 9/4/07
Witt Pharmacy needs customersí
help to re-establish its records
 Customers at Witt's Pharmacy's four locations, including Caledonia, will have to take an extra step or two when getting their prescriptions, as the local pharmacy chain rebuilds its customer records damaged in the August floods. Photo by Charlie Warner |
By Heather M. Gray
Courtesy the Spring Grove Herald
How do you replace years worth of billing records, insurance information and prescription files? That is the task facing Tom Witt and his staff at Witt Pharmacies.
Witt lost his computer server that was accessed by his four retail stores in Rushford, Houston, Spring Grove and Caledonia, when the floodwaters hit his downtown store.
Witt has always been careful to backup his computer files and store them off-site, at another building in Rushford that houses his other pharmacy that exclusively serves nursing homes. That building did not flood, instead the roof collapsed due to the weight of the torrential rains.
The company is rebuilding its database one record and one client at a time. Itís not a hard process, but it takes a little time.
Witt says that all of his offices, except Rushford havenít missed a beat. However it takes customers a little longer to get their prescriptions.
"We encourage all of our customers to plan ahead," Witt explained. "Donít wait until you run out to order your refill."
For new prescriptions, the only extra step you need to do is provide your demographic information and show your insurance card so your customer information can be re-entered.
For refills and maintenance prescriptions you will need to follow the same process. In addition, if you can bring in your current prescription bottle or provide the prescription number, the pharmacist can then verify the information with the correct doctor and get your records updated.
"We appreciate our customerís patience as we go through this process," he added.
A pharmacist through and through, Witt had to step out during our interview to talk with a customer and help with a prescription refill. The whole staff is pitching in to make the process as painless as possible.
Future plans
Witt plans to rebuild his Rushford pharmacy, probably locating it in the Community Memorial Hospital Clinic in Rushford.
"Itís something that has been in discussion for over a year," he explained. "We just are moving up the timelines."
Until construction can begin, Witt will be working out of a temporary pharmacy in the parking lot of his Rushford store.
Witt learned that you can never have too many redundancies in your business plan. Through this process he has learned about a service that allows you to backup your records through the phone line to a secure server in another part of the country.
Witt has signed up for this service and hopes that it prevents any future problems. Of course, he also hopes that Rushford never floods again either!
"There is more positive coming back into the business community from last week," he pointed out. "We will be stronger and better than we were before."
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com