Cochrane businesses use home delivery to help customers stay isolated

Some Cochrane businesses are stepping up to make it easier for residents to stay socially isolated in their homes.

Reid Kimmett, owner and operations manager of Two Pharmacy, is trying to limit the amount of public exposure by offering home delivery.

"You don't need to come, you don't need to expose yourself to the things that may be in the pharmacy,," Kimmett said. "Our staff don't need to get exposed to that because, ultimately, we all need to stay healthy."

Kimmett says it's about helping everyone stay safe, and keeping pharmacy workers healthy so they can keep being a supportive pillar for the community.

"We're doing our best to reduce contact within the store," Kimmett said. "We're not taking cash, that kind of thing. We have sanitizing procedures in place and then we're trying to push deliveries on that front, too."

Kimmett stressed that the delivery is being offered to all customers —no doctor's note is required — in an attempt to limit public exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If we can help you and we can bring it to your door, that's what we want to do," Kimmett said.

Over at Cochrane Toyota, the dealership's marketing director says staff are doing what they can to help — starting with offering to deliver toilet paper.

"We had some suppliers that had some excess that we could use and we took advantage of that and will see what we can do going forward, if we need to do some shuttling or getting things to places where people can't leave," said Kelly Baum. "It's an easy one for us to do." 

Baum says he's hoping that by getting the word out, more businesses will jump on board.

The Town of Cochrane, which declared a state of local emergency on Tuesday, is encouraging residents to support local businesses by shopping local. 

The town has launched a new Facebook page called Shop Cochrane, aimed at sharing information about how Cochrane businesses are serving residents and what they're doing to offer community support.

"No doubt, these are uncertain times for all of us and that includes business" Mayor Jeff Genung said in a recent Facebook post. "The Town of Cochrane is working to assist our local business community and we're committed to doing our part through this challenging time."

Residents are encouraged to share their stories and update the latest information on service adjustments.