KRHC Pharmacy

The KRHC Pharmacy opened in the fall of 2004 and continues to serve as a convenient option for patients to fill prescriptions and purchase over-the-counter medications. The pharmacy also serves as a resourcefor breastfeeding supplies, including sale and rental of breastpumps. Burt's Bees products are also available for purchase.

Pharmacy hours:

Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m..

KRHC Family Pharmacy
Phone: 515.295.4567
Fax: 515.295.4568

Robot joins the KRHC Pharmacy staff

The KRHC Family Pharmacy has welcomed a new member to its three-person staff – a Parata robot, better known as Rosie.

The robot was added in March to help fill prescriptions, and does its work at a much faster pace than humanly possible. Rosie can fill a prescription in just 30 seconds, much faster than the two to three minutes it takes the other staff members, according to KRHC Pharmacist Ron Koppen.

“I like having this because it’s more accurate and it gives us more time to do what counts instead of taking so much time to do the counting,” Koppen said.

The robot has 252 bays where the many different types of pills are stored. When an order is sent up through the computer, Rosie quickly counts out the appropriate number of pills with an electronic eye, labels the bottle and puts a cap on the top. The opportunity for error is very small and many safeguards are employed to prevent any mix-ups.

“There’s no possibility of goofing it up,” said Koppen. “The filling of the machine is the only way to make a mistake and even that would be pretty tough.”

When refilling the medications, the barcode is checked to be sure that the refills correspond with the ones already in the pill bay. If the wrong medication is chosen, a loud noise alerts the person to the error.

The pharmacy continues to have growing numbers of clients and needed a way to get more done in the same amount of time.

“Our growth has been phenomenal. With the help of Rosie we can continue to service our clients quickly and accurately,” Koppen said.