When Grace Cottage Hospital opened the Messenger Valley Pharmacy as a service to the community on July 1, 1996, no one could have predicted that fifteen years later over 5,000 prescriptions per month would routinely be filled in this small space on the first floor of an old house across from Grace Cottage. With the nearest pharmacies located at least 20 miles in any direction (Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, Londonderry and Wilmington), many area patients rely on the convenience and high level of service provided by the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians at Messenger Valley Pharmacy.

The new design by architect Vance Hosford for the Messenger Valley
Pharmacy doesn’t look much different from the original on the exterior,
but the interior will provide much more space for pharmacy customers.

However, no one would argue that Messenger Valley Pharmacy, made possible by a gift from his family in honor of Eli Messenger, outgrew the space years ago. Therefore, the services and space will be expanded this fall. In preparation for the expansion, the barn behind the pharmacy has been demolished, and a new structure will be constructed.

This expansion in services is being made possible by an initial grant provided by the Fanny Holt Ames and the Edna Louise Holt Fund; architectural services donated by Vance Hosford, AIA; and two weeks of labor donated by 30 ServCorps volunteers from Hartford, CT, in early October (the same group that helped to build Grace Cottage’s Community Wellness Center in 2009). The total project cost is $350,000 and 40% of this amount has already been raised; to make a donation, call (802) 365-9109 or go to www.gracecottage.org. Pharmacists Margaret Bourbeau, Greg Dean, Valerie Hall, Jim Heal, and Joanne Ryan, and pharmacy technicians Dewey Barry, Kerry Capponcelli, Pauline Hopkins, Sharon Redfield, Jeanette Reynolds, and Sue Tweedy thank you for your support — they’ve all been tripping over one another to serve patients at this hometown pharmacy (voted The Best of Brattleboro in 2010) for many years!