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Harlem Pharmacy Helps Patients Heal With Pills and Painting

By Gustavo Solis | February 19, 2015 6:06pm
 Norwood Pharmacy offers free art therapy classes. 
Norwood Pharmacy
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HARLEM — A local pharmacy on West 133rd Street is just as popular for its game nights and therapy art classes as it is for its pills and prescriptions.

“Bingo night really gets packed,” said Yogi Chavada, 38, the owner of Norwood Pharmacy on 2490 Frederick Douglass Blvd.

Chavada, who has two advanced art degrees, moved the pharmacy from The Bronx to Harlem in April 2014. He converted a large room in the back into a community center where he hosts free events for the community.

He uses his art background to teach free art therapy classes and invites licensed health care professionals to teach wellness classes. Chavada said he believes a pharmacy should be more than just a place you go to pick up your pills.

During its first year, the pharmacy has been engaging the community by hosting events like a summer block party, a Thanksgiving turkey raffle, and a Valentine’s Day get together, Chavada said.

Chavada, who set up a small studio in his New Jersey home and paints regularly, started working in pharmacies about 10 years ago when he was an art student at SUNY Albany. He also has a degree from the New York Academy of Art.

He noticed that people would come in for their pills and go home. Then they’d call the pharmacy with a dozen questions about their medication.

The events and classes are meant to add another dimension to the pharmacy’s mission, he added.

“I would probably be in the house watching TV but I look forward to those classes," said Valerie Ashton, 50, who lives nearby. "I honestly look forward to those classes, it’s something I look forward to every month. It’s therapeutic.” 

Ashton first noticed the pharmacy in the summer time, during a block party. She likes to go to the educational classes to get tips on healthy living. She found the HIV awareness class particularly useful. 

“They had someone speaking about using condoms and they demonstrated different types of condoms like a condom you put on your finger which I’d never seen before," she said. "I don’t want to get graphic but they told us a lot of things that people in that class didn’t know.”

The art therapy helps people relax and builds up their confidence. It is especially helpful for people with high blood pressure because it allows them to focus on the art and relax, Chavada said.

After the session, people walk away feeling accomplished. It gives patients a sense of purpose, he added.

“The important thing is you get attached to it, you are proud that you did it,” he said.

Some of the other classes are a bit more directly related to health care. The pharmacy offers free classes on nutrition, anxiety and depression, wellness, substance abuse, and HIV prevention and awareness, Chavada added. 

“I’ve been living in Harlem all my life and I’ve never seen a pharmacy go out of their way to help people like Norwood Pharmacy does,” Ashton said.