The Powell Valley Healthcare Pharmacy is officially open. PVHC threw a grand opening celebration Thursday, Sept. 19, with free food for the community.

The budget for the pharmacy remodel, which includes a drive-up window, was approved in July 2018, so it’s been a long wait for the project to finally be complete. Heart Mountain Construction of Powell was the primary contractor on the remodel, submitting a winning $547,327 bid to PVHC in January.

The pharmacy had a soft opening on Aug. 12, and the facility began receiving new prescriptions at that time. Before making too big of a deal, pharmacy staff have been getting some final issues resolved, such as getting the sales system completely functional.

Steven Hultgren, PVHC pharmacy director, said working out the kinks in the past month wasn’t particularly difficult.

“We have an amazing group of technicians working in the pharmacy department, and that made the transition smooth,” Hultgren said. “We really hit the ground running.”

Another addition to the pharmacy department — which will meet requirements for the handling of certain hazardous drugs — is part of a broader hospital renovation project. In an effort to bring down the costs of that project, PVHC included that work in the hospital renovation.

“It’s exciting. We’re all happy to see it come together,” Hultgren said.