Pharmabox Leaves Campus

Belmont Vision Multimedia, Zach Watkins

The Pharmabox has been removed from campus permanently. 

Last October, Belmont added the healthcare vending machine to the first floor of Harrington Place Dining Hall. The Pharmabox sold personal care items, first aid items and over-the-counter medications. 

However, Belmont removed the box on Wednesday. 

Belmont University Auxiliary Services said that, after consideration, it decided to discontinue the service because of finances, maintenance issues and product availability issues. Now that Belmont offers a 24-hour convenience store, officials felt that the Pharmabox was no longer necessary. 

“All items previously offered through Pharmabox remain available in campus convenience stores, ensuring students have easy access to essentials,” said Julia Copeland, director of public relations, on behalf of Auxiliary Services. 

However, students aren’t so sure. 

“There were medications that I know I bought there, and I’ve looked around Bear Necessities and I didn’t see those products available,” said sophomore Cate Julia Neuens. 

While Bear Necessities does provide products such as Advil, Tylenol and hand sanitizer, they’re missing some things that the Pharmabox carried, such as Band-Aids, NyQuil, DayQuil, Cepacol, and a wider variety of certain other products. 

“I could probably live without it, but I remember when we were sick, we definitely used it, said Neuens. 

“It was something that we could always check when there were things that we needed,” said sophomore George Hoffman. 

Students will still have access to all health products via the Health Service Clinic in McWhorter, and they will still have 24-hour access to some health products via Bear Necessities at Wiseman. However, if you wake up at midnight needing NyQuil, you’ll have to get in your car and drive while sick. 

“Some people can’t get to CVS or Walgreens, so it’s good that it was an option,” said junior Emily Arlan. 

This article was written by Olivia Abernathy.