Table of Contents
Joe Sullivan
Sullivan Pharmacy
(Good Neighbor Pharmacy)
1140 Grand Ave.
Bacliff, Texas 77518
https://www.sullivanpharmacytx.com/
BACLIFF, Texas — Joe Sullivan discovered his interest in pharmacy at the age of 16 during his first job as a delivery boy at Blakey Drug, an independent pharmacy in Denver Harbor, Texas. The lead druggist recognized his enthusiasm and mentored Sullivan, teaching him about patient consultations and compounding.
Mr. Beckton, whom Sullivan called Mr. Beck, told him, “To be a pharmacist, you need to care about people. You don’t enter this profession unless you genuinely care about keeping people healthy.” Sullivan has remembered those words ever since, and he’s made them the foundation of his practice.
Motivated by that youthful experience, Sullivan took pre-pharmacy courses at San Jacinto Junior College and then attended pharmacy school at the University of Houston, earning his degree in 1972. He went to work at Blakey Drug for a few years before it was sold. He later worked in a hospital pharmacy, as well as a local grocery store pharmacy to broaden his experience in the profession. Sullivan then worked for a small chain pharmacy that was expanding and eventually opened a location in Bacliff, Texas, a small community in Galveston County with a population of around 9,500.
“I would walk up Grand Avenue, our main street, and say to myself, ‘I’m going to open my own pharmacy here some day,’” Sullivan recalls.
Over the years, he had seen that many customers, especially those with complex, chronic health conditions, often did not take their medications as needed and prescribed. When he opened Sullivan Pharmacy that same year, he did so with the promise to provide the accessible, high-touch, high-quality care that local patients needed — just as he had learned years earlier at Blakey Drug.
Sullivan and his team serve small, remote communities including Bacliff, San Leon, Kemah and Dickinson. Most of this area is located in a pharmacy desert, as the nearest pharmacy besides Sullivan’s is 30 minutes away. Many of these residents are low-income and managing complex health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. Moreover, the area has a higher use of narcotics than neighboring communities.
While the population of these communities used to be composed predominantly of seniors, in more recent years there has been a significant influx of Hispanic and Vietnamese residents, many of whom have limited English proficiency. Sullivan has adapted his practice to meet the needs of those residents, even studying Spanish so he could counsel Hispanic patients in their native language. He also hired bilingual staff to assist Vietnamese customers.
In addition to offering free delivery of medications, 24-hour emergency services, vaccine clinics, opioid overdose prevention services and multilingual counseling, Sullivan devotes considerable time to counseling patients about medications and treatments, knowing that many of them cannot afford to see a physician and depend on him for over-the-counter solutions to their health issues.
Inspired by the high-touch, personalized service he witnessed at Blakey Drug in his youth, Sullivan takes the time to build relationships with his patients, often sharing his personal phone number and address and encouraging them to reach out with questions or concerns. In addition to in-person counseling, he provides printed materials and regularly posts health and disease state management tips on social media channels.
Sullivan has further tailored his pharmacy’s offerings to meet the needs of local residents, expanding the vitamin section to meet growing consumer demand, for example. The pharmacy also participates in Good Neighbor Pharmacy’s pet medication program, which provides seniors more affordable access to their pets’ medications with prices lower than those of local veterinarians.
In response to the high rate of narcotic and opioid abuse in the area, Sullivan quickly made Narcan available to the community as soon as it appeared in 2023. His pharmacy has since become the largest Narcan distributor in Galveston County.
Additionally, Sullivan visits schools to administer flu vaccines to teachers and students, adjusting his schedule during peak vaccination season to ensure his availability on weekends and evenings. Moreover, Sullivan created a patient medication fund entirely financed by customers and staff. When patients arrive at the pharmacy unable to afford their medication, the fund is used to cover the cost.
Above all else, Sullivan says he derives the greatest satisfaction from building strong relationships with his patients and providing them the information and resources they need to improve their health. In 1993, he was among the first pharmacists in Texas to take a new pharmacy immunization certification course, laying the foundation for his frequent vaccine and immunization clinics.
When COVID-19 struck in 2020, Sullivan administered vaccinations to nearly half of the area’s population, and ultimately contracted the disease himself. After spending weeks in the hospital, he emerged an even stronger advocate of immunization and openly shares his experience to stress the importance of vaccination.
One anecdote perhaps best illustrates the values that have shaped Sullivan’s approach to pharmacy practice. One day a woman entered the store with a very sick child. She told Sullivan that a nearby chain pharmacy where her doctor had just sent a prescription had closed earlier than usual, leaving her unable to fill or transfer the script.
Sullivan called the hospital where the child had been treated and assured the mother he would stay at the pharmacy as long as necessary to receive and fill the script. His dedication paid off, and the child received her medication that evening.
