Results tagged “events”

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Amidst budget crisis, CVS refused to deliver medicine to AIDS non-profit without immediate payment

At a press conference today outside a CVS Pharmacy in Philadelphia, leaders of the non-profit Calcutta House announced that the organization is severing long-standing ties with CVS Pharmacy. The announcement comes after CVS suspended prescription service to some of Philadelphia's most vulnerable patients last week, amidst a state budget crisis in Pennsylvania.

When Calcutta House, which serves AIDS patients who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, asked its vendors for compassion during a difficult financial time, all of them were happy to help--except for CVS. When the small organization ordered its regular supply of prescription drugs from CVS, the pharmacy chain showed no sympathy and refused to fill the order without immediate payment.

"Calcutta House has worked with CVS/Pharmacare for years, and our residents depend on these prescriptions," said Calcutta House Executive Director Matthew Teter. "The company's recent actions reveal that it cares more about its bottom line than the health of the patients it claims to serve. That's not the kind of company we want to give our business to."

Calcutta House normally orders between 15,000 and 18,000 dosages of medicine each month. The outstanding balance on its account when CVS refused to fill the prescription order was less than $300.

Continue reading Amidst budget crisis, CVS refused to deliver medicine to AIDS non-profit without immediate payment.

Posted by Alex G. on September 24, 2009 1:55 PM

Worcester Rally Calls on CVS to Stop Overcharging Customers

Community members and activists rallied in Worcester, MA. on Friday calling on CVS to stop overcharging its customers.

Overcharges found at CVS stores in Massachusetts increased 67 percent from 2007 to 2008, indicating that the retailer has failed to correct prior violations of state item pricing laws. On average, Massachusetts inspectors found almost five times more overcharges per inspection at CVS stores than at all other retailers in the state. Although CVS stores made up only 6.6 percent of all state pricing inspections in 2008, CVS's violations accounted for 32 percent of all overcharges caught by the state that year. That's almost one third of all the overcharges inspectors found in Massachusetts.

Luz Ramirez, lead organizer at Neighbor to Neighbor, said at Friday's rally: "I've lived and worked in Worcester for almost 20 years and I know that residents of Worcester can't afford to pay any more than the advertised price on essentials like food and medicine."

Massachusetts Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation Undersecretary Barbara Anthony has ordered CVS to correct its illegal overcharging problems, and met with the company earlier this month over the issue.

Read more about CVS's ongoing pricing problems in Massachusetts in Cure CVS's recent report, Your Total Comes to...More Than the Advertised Price: How CVS hasn't fixed its pricing violation problems in Massachusetts (PDF).

Posted by Alex G. on July 27, 2009 11:17 AM

Join us on Thursday in a city near you

Despite lawsuits and reprimands over the last year, CVS stores have been caught selling expired products as recently as last week. Now, people across the country are taking action.

On Tuesday of last week, the Philadelphia City Council heard testimony about expired products at CVS stores in Philadelphia. The Council will soon vote on legislation inspired by CVS's repeated sale of expired goods that would ban the sale of such products in the city.

Then, on Wednesday, California Attorney General Jerry Brown made CVS pay nearly $1 million for selling expired products and improperly disposing of patient information in the state, settling charges against the company for its repeated sales of expired goods. The company faces additional penalties in California for repeat violations of this practice.

This coming Thursday, actvists will rally in cities across the country to shed light on CVS's national pattern of selling expired products, and to call on the company to change its practices. If you live in or near one of the cities hosting an event, please join us on Thursday:

Houston
Where: CVS Pharmacy at 806 S. 75th St., Houston, TX
When: Thursday, June 18 - 5:00 PM

Indianapolis
Where: CVS Pharmacy at 5110 E. 38th St., Indianapolis, IN.
When: Thursday, June 18 - 12:00 NOON

Los Angeles
Where: 1485 S. Garey Ave., Pomona, CA.
When: Thursday, June 18 - 12:00 NOON

Newark Area
Where: CVS Pharmacy at 317 Central Avenue, East Orange, NJ
When: Thursday, June 18 - 12:00 NOON

Pittsburgh
Where: CVS Pharmacy at 6100 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh PA
When: Thursday, June 18 - 12:00 NOON

Providence
Where: CVS Pharmacy at 70 Kennedy Plaza, Providence, RI.
When: Thursday, June 18 - 5:00 PM

San Diego
Where: CVS Pharmacy at 1380 S. 43rd St., San Diego, CA
When: Thursday, June 18 - 5:00 PM

Standing together, we can bring change to the country's largest retail pharmacy chain. We hope to see you out there.

Posted by Alex G. on June 16, 2009 1:01 PM

Video: Activists Call on CVS to Unlock Condom Cases in its Stores

Representatives from nine different communities groups, surrounded by dozens of supporters, spoke out against CVS's practice of locking condom cases in its stores on Thursday. Washingtonian bloggers captured some of the speakers discussing the issue. [Via]

Posted by Alex G. on June 12, 2009 2:36 PM

Protesters Gather in Washington DC to Tell CVS to Unlock Condom Cases

Over 200 community groups - working on issues from women's health to HIV/AIDS prevention - are calling on CVS CEO Tom Ryan to unlock condom cases in the company's nearly 7,000 stores nationwide. Representatives from several of the groups convened today in Washington, DC. to rally for the cause and discuss the issue publicly.

Public health advocates have criticized the practice of locking condom cases, saying that it creates a barrier to access and stigmatizes condoms, both of which could lead to decreased condom use.

Even more unsettling is the fact that CVS disproportionately locks condom cases in communities of color and Latino communities. Surveys of more than 2,200 CVS stores found that the company locks up condoms in 19 of 21 markets surveyed. In 9 of those markets, CVS is at least three times more likely to lock condoms in communities of color than in white communities.

CVS locks condoms in these communities despite the fact that HIV/AIDS is the number one killer of black American women between the ages of 25 and 34, and the rate of new HIV infections among Latinos is three times the rate of whites.

Join hundreds of individuals nationwide who have already called on CVS to unlock its condom cases by signing our petition to the company here.

Posted by Alex G. on June 11, 2009 3:36 PM

In photos: Rallies Against Expired Products in Cities Across the Country

Above, photos from Cure CVS rallies in Indianapolis and Chicago today. Protesters spoke out against CVS's continuning sale of expired products at its stores.

Posted by Alex G. on May 21, 2009 5:11 PM

Cure CVS Stands Up in Houston, TX

A news piece from Fox News Houston on the Cure CVS rally there yesterday, March 25. Click here to read the accompanying article on Fox's website.

Posted by Alex G. on March 26, 2009 1:25 PM

Philadelphia City Council members speak out against CVS's expired goods

This morning Philadelphia City Council Members Maria D. Quiñones-Sánchez, Blondell Reynolds Brown & William K. Greenlee joined Philadelphia Consumer Affairs Director Lance Haver, National Organization for Women Philadelphia Chapter President Karen Bojar and Bishop Dwayne Royster of the Living Water United Church of Christ at Philadelphia's City hall to criticize CVS's continuing sale of expired goods.

CBS 3 explained "despite numerous warnings in the past, [CVS] continues to sell expired products at numerous stores in the area. Officials said three dozen expired goods, including over-the-counter medicine and infant formula, were found during a survey of 15 Philadelphia CVS locations."

"CVS has been repeatedly caught selling expired products in our City and around the country," said City Councilwoman Maria D. Quinones Sanchez. "The City needs to take action to stop this abuse."

Councilman Bill Greenlee agreed: "I call on the City Solicitor to let CVS know in no uncertain terms that there will be consequences for continuing to sell expired goods in Philadelphia." Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown added, "Children and families in the 21st Century should not and can not be exposed to outdated goods when it is preventable. We believe that CVS, and all retailers for that matter, need to be responsible corporate citizens and ensure that what they are selling are not expired and potentially dangerous items."

Community and civil rights leaders are also calling for enforcement action against CVS. "CVS has spent millions of dollars on ads to create the image that CVS supports women as caregivers, but women don't want to expose their children or themselves to the dangers of expired infant formula, expired medicines and expired milk," said Kathy Black, President of the Coalition of Labor Union Women Philadelphia Chapter and Vice President of the Philadelphia Chapter, National Organization for Women.

WKYW Philadelphia quoted Councilmember Greenlee discussing the country's largest drug store chain: "Maybe you can make an argument for a small store that doesn't have the employees to keep up. But CVS knows better, they have enought [sic] people to deal with this, and they just appear to be, for lack of a better word, ignoring it."

City Council Members Outraged Over Expired Goods [CBS 3 Philadelphia]
Phila. City Council Members Blast CVS Drug Chain for Expired Products [WKYW]

Posted by Alex G. on March 25, 2009 12:40 PM

Cure CVS stands up in Orange County

Activists stand up for consumer and community rights in Orange County, Calif. on Thursday, March 19, 2009.

Posted by Alex G. on March 23, 2009 5:42 PM

What do we want? Condom access!

From the Philadelphia City Paper, a short, pithy video describing Cure CVS's protest in front of a CVS store in North Philadelphia on Thursday, Feb. 12. Full video transcript after the jump.

Continue reading What do we want? Condom access!.

Posted by Alex G. on February 17, 2009 10:04 AM

New Yorkers Speak Out Against CVS's Condom Lockup

From New York City's NY1 News:
"We are in the top 10 counties in the nation for the spread of HIV and AIDS. It is irresponsible and racist to keep condoms locked up where people don't have access to them," said Lisa Winters, Bronx Community Pride Center.

"People shoplift in the suburbs, people shoplift in wealthier and white neighborhoods and they are not locking up condoms in those neighborhoods. Locking up condoms puts people at risk," said Louis Guida, CURE CVS.
Public Health Groups Hand Out Condoms In Bronx [NY1 News]

Posted by Alex G. on February 13, 2009 10:21 AM

In Photos: Unlock the Condoms!

Photos from events in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles where public health advocates, civil rights groups and community leaders spoke out against CVS's practice of locking condom cases in communities of color.

Posted by Alex G. on February 12, 2009 4:47 PM

Join the Call! Tell CVS to Unlock Condoms

Community groups and public health advocates are calling on CVS to change its unfair condom lock-up policy. We'll be out in four cities today but support is already coming out online:

Jenice Armstrong: CVS urged to 'free' condoms [Philadelphia Daily News]
Gary J. Bell, executive director of BEBASHI (Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues), said in an e-mail, "The practice of 'locking up condoms' in low-income neighborhoods, especially communities of color where rates of HIV, STI's [sexually transmitted diseases] and pregnancy continue to soar, is both short-sighted and dangerous.
Locked condoms spark protest [Metro Philadelphia]
"We face an HIV infection rate five times the national average," said Joanna Bouldin, of Change to Win. "As a woman, as someone who lives in Philadelphia I find it really appalling that a company that cares about health care" would lock up condoms.
Earth To CVS: Stop Locking Up Condoms In Poor Neighborhoods [Philebrity]
CVS brass say that those stores do so because of shoplifting and -- pardon the word here -- shrinkage history, but the fact remains that this is an awful, awful policy: It puts a barrier between birth control and STD protection in places where it's often needed the most. So today at noon, protesters will gather at the Broad & Girard CVS in an effort to basically shame CVS into setting the jimmy hats free. Philebrity supports this protest -- CVS, there's gotta be another way.

Join the call for reform - tell CVS to have a heart and unlock the condoms!

Posted by Alex G. on February 12, 2009 10:38 AM

Join us at events this week

Join Cure CVS at events this week in Boston, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. We'll be holding press conferences in each city and present CVS with a giant Valentine's message: "Have a Heart - Unlock the Condoms!" Find us at:

Boston
WHERE: CVS store at 778 Dudley St, Dorchester
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 12, 11:00 AM

New York
WHERE: CVS store at 115 W. 125th Street in Harlem & CVS store at 282 East 149th Street in the Bronx
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 12, 12:00 Noon

Philadelphia
WHERE: CVS store at intersection of Broad and Girard
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 12, 12:00 Noon

Los Angeles
WHERE: CVS store at 4345 W. Century Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90304
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 12, 4 PM - 6 PM, PST.

If you can't join us in person, you can still help spread the word about CVS's unfair condom policies. Download a "Have a Heart - Unlock the Condoms" Valentine to send to friends or post on your blog. You can also join the cause on Facebook, and be sure to join our mailing list, too.

Posted by Alex G. on February 10, 2009 3:57 PM

In Photos: Speaking Out to Cure CVS

Civil rights leaders and community advocates held press conferences across the country yesterday. These are some images of the events, held in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Detroit.

Posted by Alex G. on December 5, 2008 3:50 PM