The Harvard Drug Group: Protecting Rural Communities After Tornadoes

Success Story

The Harvard Drug Group

The Harvard Drug Group was created to provide healthcare workers with affordable options in pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter products. The savings accrued by their clients are then passed on to consumers, offering affordable healthcare to those in need and rural communities with fewer medical options. They rely on a portfolio of companies in the distribution, wholesale, retail, medical, and veterinary industries to deliver and secure their products. Each piece of their supply and distribution chain needs to remain connected to maximize service, availability, and value. Any disruption to their business continuity requires urgent remediation. 

Challenge:

A record number of tornados wreaked havoc across the Southeastern U.S. in April of 2011. Alabama was ground-zero for much of the destruction and experienced severe damage across the state. Residential areas were flattened, and buildings were destroyed, effectively wiping out entire companies. The businesses and homes left behind had no access to basic services such as water, power, Internet, or working communications. Over 250 people lost their lives in the storm, and others were at serious risk due to damaged infrastructure and no access to medical care. As a distributor of compound pharmaceuticals to areas hit by the storm, the Harvard Drug Group needed to ensure that residents who relied on them for prescriptions would be treated. 

Solution:

Chuck Makarov, president of LETCO Medical, reached out to Agility to declare an emergency and request temporary communications. Agility coordinated with LETCO, a member of the Harvard Drug Group’s network, to provide them with a generator and a satellite link for Internet and phone communications.

Results:

LETCO was operational within 24 hours of their emergency declaration, and medical personnel was able to fill over 450 orders that day. Agility’s services allowed LETCO’s customers to rely on them for medical care even after historically devastating storms. In total, Agility responded to 21 alerts and managed 11 simultaneous recoveries across the southeast.

 

Without Agility here, we would not have been able to get orders out on Friday and that could affect patients. We want to make sure that we don’t cause any more damage by not being prepared for a disaster like this. Unless you’re prepared, you’re going to set yourself up to fail.

Chuck Makarov, President of LETCO Medical, a division of The Harvard Drug Group

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