Thanks to a $150,000 grant that Grace Cottage Hospital has received from the Fanny Holt Ames and Edna Louise Holt Fund, the services of the Messenger Valley Pharmacy will be expanded to provide more space for pharmacists working to fill prescriptions, plus a private room for consultations and a larger retail area.

To start the project off, the old barn at the back of the building was demolished last Thursday, May 10. It will be replaced with a building that looks almost the same in size and design, but which has a solid foundation and support beams inside. The old barn was rotted, not sound enough to be renovated. The new “barn” will become pharmacy space, where pharmacists and technicians will fill prescriptions.

Plans for this project have been drawn up and donated by architect Vance Hosford; an Act 250 permit was received; and a volunteer organization called ServCorps located in Hartford, CT has agreed to supply two weeks of volunteer labor by about 30 people this September. (This is the same group that built Grace Cottage’s Community Wellness Center in September, 2009.)

The entire project will cost $350,000, so an additional $200,000 will need to be raised. The proceeds of this year’s Grace Cottage Hospital “Tee Up for Health” golf tournament and silent auction will go toward this project.

Photos by Joanne Ryan and C.J. King