Back-to-School Readiness: How Your Pharmacy Can Support Families This Fall

As the back-to-school season approaches, families are juggling more than just school supplies. They’re also focused on their children’s health, safety, and readiness to learn. This is a prime opportunity for your pharmacy to serve as a trusted partner and resource.

Independent pharmacies have a unique advantage when it comes to connecting with the community on a personal level. Whether with a long-time customer picking up monthly refills or a first-time visitor stopping in to buy an OTC medication, every interaction is a chance to show what sets you apart. Your pharmacy isn’t just a place to pick up prescriptions: It’s a local hub for care, convenience, and genuine connection.

A time for independent pharmacies to offer vaccines, manage medications, and support families as trusted community health partners. | image credit: hd3dsh / stock.adobe.com

Here’s how your team can prepare to meet the needs of parents and students in your community.

Offer Support for Allergy and Asthma Management

Children with asthma, food allergies, or seasonal allergies often need their prescriptions updated before school starts.

READ MORE: Rethinking Medication Adherence: Patient-Centered Solutions for Better Outcomes

What you can do:

• Flag expiring or expired prescriptions, such as those for EpiPens and rescue inhalers.
• Educate families about school requirements for backup medications and forms.
• Coordinate directly with prescribers to help ensure timely renewals and proper documentation required by schools.
• A quick medication review or consultation could prevent a missed school day or an emergency later in the year. When parents see that you’re proactive and attentive to these details, trust builds—and so does loyalty.

Advertise Immune Support Products

Strong immunity helps keep kids in class. Educate families about OTC supplements that support wellness. A simple Facebook post, in-store signage, or conversations with customers can help boost these sales.

Some recommended products include the following:

• Children’s multivitamins with immune-boosting ingredients such as vitamin D, zinc, and elderberry
• Probiotics and natural wellness formulas approved by your pharmacy team

Make these products easy to find in the store and consider creating a dedicated Back-to-School Health endcap or display.

Promote Medication Management for Chronic Conditions

Back-to-school can disrupt routines, particularly for kids managing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), epilepsy, diabetes, or mental health conditions.

Some of your services that you can highlight include the following:

• Medication synchronization to align refill schedules
• Pill organizers and easy-to-use packaging options
• Refill reminders and text alerts
• Assistance for families checking for pending or soon-to-expire prior authorizations, especially for ADHD medications

Independent pharmacies can often offer a level of service that chains cannot—such as calling ahead to remind parents about renewals or offering flexible pickup options. These small efforts make a big difference for busy families and can help reduce medication nonadherence.

Be a Community Resource

The more you position your pharmacy as a community resource, the more value customers will place on your services.

For example:

• Create a simple handout or digital checklist for parents, eg, Back-to-School Checklist—Pharmacy Edition.
• Host a short question-and-answer session or mini wellness event in-store or online.
• Offer to answer health questions via social media or email during the busy school season.

Even small touches—such as checking in on a parent who looks overwhelmed, offering to help someone find the proper allergy medication, or making sure a child is up-to-date on vaccines—go a long way in building customer relationships.

Independent pharmacies thrive on these human moments. You’re not just competing on price or product; you’re offering trust, convenience, and care. And when people see that, they come back.

By embracing your role as a health advocate, problem-solver, and neighbor, your pharmacy can become an essential stop for every family’s back-to-school checklist. Let your community know: You’re here for more than prescriptions. You’re here for them.

To read these stories and more, download the PDF of the Total Pharmacy August issue here.