KSHB Spotlights Pharmacy of Grace’s Expansion to Johnson County

Kansas City’s KSHB 41 recently featured Pharmacy of Grace in a story about our upcoming expansion to Shawnee and raised awareness about the need in that area, which doesn’t always get talked about in Johnson County. 

The story highlighted what our team sees every day: the cost of medications is a significant barrier for people across the Kansas City metro, and that need is growing in Johnson County. KSHB 41 Reporter Isabella Ledonne visited the Shawnee space at Mercy and Truth’s clinic on West 75th Street where our new full-service pharmacy will open.

“This is truly just a closet,” Powers told KSHB. “It’s not a pharmacy, we don’t fill prescriptions here, we just basically dispense them.”

Right now, POG only delivers medications to our Mercy & Truth patients in Shawnee. But that’s about to change.

A Need That’s Been There All Along

Powers currently fills prescriptions at our main Wyandotte County location and drives them down to Johnson County — and hundreds of people rely on those deliveries.

The Shawnee expansion will mean patients no longer have to wait on a delivery or make the trip to KCK. They’ll have a full pharmacy in their own community, complete with counseling rooms and bilingual technicians. A pharmacy that will be open to anyone in the community. 

The KSHB story also featured patient Michelle Jacke, a former nurse who travels to KCK for her medications. Jacke, who relies on Pharmacy of Grace for affordable prescriptions to treat her heart condition, said she hopes the new location will help others who have fallen through the cracks. 

“There’s always been the thought that living in Johnson County that these people don’t have the same needs as other people in different areas,” she said. “I think we do have a lot of people here that fall into the cracks.” 

Data backs that up. Research from the Mid-America Regional Council shows that in the neighborhoods east of I-35 near our future location, up to 40% of residents live at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, one in four lack health insurance, and nearly half of households in some areas speak limited English.

What’s Coming
The new Shawnee pharmacy will offer the same services our Wyandotte County patients have counted on since 2022: affordable medications for uninsured and underinsured patients, medication counseling, chronic disease support, and referrals to community resources. The pharmacy will be open to everyone, regardless of what doctor or hospital you go to. The Shawnee location is expected to open by June. 

How You Can Help
Stories like Michelle’s are why we do this work and why getting this pharmacy open matters. If you’d like to support the expansion, visit our Expanding Medication Access for Healthier Lives campaign page to make a gift. Every dollar goes directly toward pharmacy equipment, medications, staffing, and build-out of the new location.

Watch the full KSHB story here.