Black-owned pharmacy in Avondale gives support, essentials to community in need

Emmanuel Ayanjoke grew up in Nigeria, far from the streets of Avondale.

But Avondale is the place he calls home, where he has invested in the community and its people.

This year, Ayanjoke opened Altev Community Pharmacy on Reading Road in the heart of Avondale.

"I can't count how many days I just wake up in the morning and it just gives me chills that I get to do this," Ayanjoke said. "Not a lot of people can say that they get to do what they've always wanted to do all their life."

As we spoke to him, clients filtered in and out of the pharmacy. Some shop for necessities, like baby wipes and cleaning products. These personal care necessities are items Ayanjoke keeps at a low price point. Many of them are tagged at $1 so his shoppers don't get gouged paying for convenience store prices.

Other customers just have questions. In each case, Ayanjoke takes time to talk with them and learn about their lives and concerns.

"Are you going to stay indoors today?" he asked one client on a particularly steamy June afternoon. "It's going to be really hot."

It's this level of care that Ayanjoke dreamed of providing to a community while growing up in Nigeria. His father is a pharmacist, his grandfather owned a pharmacy. Ayanjoke says he grew up watching his dad care for the people in their neighborhood.

"When I saw my dad take care of his community, it made an impact on me," Ayanjoke said. "And I realized that that's really what I wanted to do — being there for the community."

Eventually, Ayanjoke moved to Ohio to further his education. He worked at a community pharmacy in Columbus and then went on to get his fellowship at Cedarville University, where he says he cemented his desire to give back.

Upon graduation, he could have stayed at Cedarville University, where he was offered a teaching post. But his heart pulled him to Avondale and owning and operating a pharmacy where there was none. In essence, Avondale was what's called a "pharmacy desert."

"When we first opened we would have people come in here like, 'This pharmacy is in Avondale, and it's Black-owned,'" he said.

Studies have shown that people who live in a pharmacy desert are more likely to stop taking their medications simply because their access to their medications and a pharmacist who can explain how and when to take their medicines, isn't readily available.

"When people don't have access to those medications, easy access to those medications, and have a trusted pharmacist that they can ask questions and trust in, what you see is increase in utilization of the ER, urgent care utilization increases, and also, unfortunately, death," Ayanjoke said.

And, at a time when giant online retailers, like Amazon, are offering medications shipped directly to people's homes, Ayanjoke knows the small, neighborhood pharmacies will be challenged to survive. Yet, he believes the survival of Altev and other community pharmacies is imperative to the people it serves. He's added delivery to any client within 10 miles of Altev. And he's hoping the word will spread that he's open and ready to serve Avondale.

"Being put in a pharmacy in a desert requires that we get the support that we need to survive," said Ayanjoke. "My hope is that this transcends beyond me and, you know, this is here forever, that we never close."