Robson (left) talks with pharmacist Randy Gros about the gun Gros carries to protect his drugstore in Marrero, La., as he provides free refills of prescriptions for victims of Hurricane Katrina. View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Packing pills, pistols

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Providing medicine to those who need it in New Orleans isn't easy

Date published: 9/15/2005

By RUSTY DENNEN

NEW ORLEANS--Randy Gros, pharmacist at Dekle Drugs, goes to work prepared. He carries a 9 mm pistol in a black holster at his side.

"Well, it's just better to exhibit force and to be prepared," he said. Gros, 48, a druggist since 1989 in this usually laid-back city, doesn't want any trouble, but knows that some people are desperate.

The day after Hurricane Katrina struck the small hamlet of Marrero on the western end of the city where he's lived all his life, his was one of the few pharmacies--much less businesses--that was open, even if it was for only a couple hours.

Gros and his wife, Nancy, who also occasionally packs a smaller pistol in her shorts to guard the back door, have been so effective in getting out what's needed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency set up a drug-distribution center under tents in their parking lot off U.S. 90.

"It was pretty hard the first week. We opened at 8 a.m. the day after the storm," Gros said, a hint of weary pride in his voice. His normal hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. were suspended as the crowds outside grew. For the time being, his employees are working 10- to 12-hour days.

Deborah Gilkey, 58, who lives in nearby Algiers Point, waited quietly in line under a tent for a prescription for an antidepressant.

Next to her, MaryEllen Chauvin, 52, was waiting for her order to be filled.

"Oh, God yes, I need quite a bit for my husband," she said. Her home was damaged in the storm, but she feels fortunate. "We've been getting food and water," and now medicine.

FEMA is allowing anyone affected by the storm to get up to a month's prescription, free.

At the Precinct 4 police station about a 10-minute drive away, a Stafford County-based LifeCare Medical Transports ambulance was helping Dr. Joe Robson screen walk-ins from a storm-battered neighborhood nearby.

Robson, 29, an emergency-room physician from Philadelphia, writes prescriptions for patients who have run out or lost their medications in the hurricane and ensuing flood.

Date published: 9/15/2005