Compassion and Empathy in Practice

Independent pharmacist Rajesh Patel goes beyond providing exceptional drug service and takes on food insecurity in Rockford’s Downtown West corridor

On any given weekday in downtown Rockford, you’ll find Rajesh Patel, RPh, behind the counter at Downtown Discount Drugs, greeting patients by name, checking on their families, and answering questions that extend far beyond prescriptions. For nearly 40 years, Patel has been the kind of pharmacist who knows his patients’ stories as well as their medications—an approach that has made him a trusted figure in a city where independent pharmacies have largely disappeared.

Now, Patel’s role as a community anchor is growing even larger. Thanks to a partnership with the Illinois New Stores in Food Deserts program, Patel has expanded his pharmacy to include City Center Market, a full-service grocery and wellness hub designed to combat food insecurity in Rockford’s Downtown West corridor.

To Patel, being a pharmacist has always been about more than filling prescriptions.

“It’s about caring for people,” he says.

The opportunity to open a grocery store to help address the food insecurity that his own patients were experiencing was a no-brainer for Patel. He believes providing access to healthy food is as essential to health as medicine.

Patel’s story in Rockford began in 1986, when he moved from South Chicago to open a small pharmacy inside a clinic. The practice was modest—just 1,500 square feet—but it thrived thanks to the relationships Patel and his late wife, Smita, built with patients. Over time, Downtown Discount Drugs became a neighborhood fixture.

Along the way, Patel faced pressures familiar to many independent pharmacists: shrinking insurance reimbursements, competition from chain pharmacies, and the financial uncertainty of operating in lower-income neighborhoods. When the big-box pharmacies moved in, smaller independents either left or sold, but Patel stood his ground. He didn’t want someone else dictating how he ran his business.

“When it comes to service, independent pharmacies can’t be beat,” he says. “You talk to your patients. They see you and get to know you and trust you.”

Located in one of Rockford’s lower-income neighborhoods, Downtown Discount Drugs has long cared for patients who are often overlooked—including seniors and individuals living with mental illness.

“They are the best people,” says Patel. “They remind me why community pharmacy matters. We care for people who need someone on their side.”

Many of his patients struggle to stay consistent with their medications, and Patel has built relationships strong enough that when he calls to remind them to take their medicine, they listen.

That philosophy has earned Patel enduring loyalty. Patients often share stories of him extending credit until payday, hunting down manufacturer coupons, or personally calling physicians to expedite prior authorizations so prescriptions would be covered.

Luciette Bevineau has been coming to Downtown Discount Drugs for more than 40 years. During a period of time when was struggling financially as a newly single mom of three, Patel allowed her to pick up medications on trust alone.

“If my kid was sick, and I didn’t get paid until Friday, he would say, ‘Go ahead and take this medicine, and you can pay me on Friday.’ Big box stores don’t want to hear about your personal problems. Raj was different because he cares and has helped me out a lot over the years. So I’m still going to be a loyal customer.”

The concept for City Center Market began with a simple observation: Downtown Rockford was booming with new apartments and businesses, but residents–including a large population of elderly and mentally ill–had nowhere nearby to buy fresh groceries. The closest supermarkets were miles away, leaving downtown officially designated as a “food desert.”

When Patel witnessed the model of a full-service pharmacy integrated with a grocery store at a conference, an idea was born. He already owned a vacant building adjacent to his pharmacy—space he had purchased in the mid-1990s but never developed—and he was well aware of his neighbors’ challenges with access to fresh food.

With encouragement from Alderman Tamir Bell and support from State Representative Maurice West and Senator Steve Sadelman, Patel applied for funding through the Illinois Grocery Initiative, a statewide effort to address food insecurity. In May, he was awarded $165,000 to launch City Center Market.

The grant helped Patel transform the long-empty space into a welcoming grocery store offering fresh produce, dairy items, pantry staples, a deli counter and even fresh juice. The market also houses shipping services and will eventually feature a nurse practitioner clinic, creating a true one-stop shop for wellness needs.

“Mr. Patel has been a pillar of this neighborhood for decades,” says Alderman Bell. “He’s not just there to run his business. He’s there to serve his community, and he really cares. He recognized the need, and his decision to invest in fresh-food access is a game-changer for our Downtown West area.”

City Center Market is only part of Patel’s vision. Drawing inspiration from a mobile grocery program in Milwaukee, he is partnering with the Northern Illinois Nonprofit Center for Excellence to launch a mobile market—an 18-foot truck outfitted with aisles, refrigeration, and wheelchair access—that will bring groceries directly to residents of senior housing complexes and underserved neighborhoods.

The mobile grocery will accept EBT, debit, and credit cards, and Patel plans to start with routes serving eight high-rise buildings in Rockford’s downtown. Over time, he hopes to expand to additional neighborhoods.

Community advocates see enormous potential. “So many of our clients have limited mobility and no easy access to grocery stores,” says Zel Coleman, case manager at the Rosecrance Ware Center, a nearby outpatient mental health facility. “The Mobile Market means they won’t have to wait until Monday for me to take them shopping.

”This will be great for everybody.”

Though Patel’s daily work has kept him busy in Rockford, his ties to the UIC Retzky College of Pharmacy run deep. His daughter Amolee earned her PharmD at UIC in 2019, and now practices with a specialty in infectious disease in Milwaukee. His son Ashay is also a pharmacist, and the two now practice side by side at Downtown Discount Drugs.

Patel himself has served as a preceptor for UIC student pharmacists for more than 15 years, mentoring learners interested in retail pharmacy. His family even established the Patel Family Scholarship at UIC, which has supported students pursuing careers in community pharmacy.

"Raj is a pillar in the community and an excellent role model,” says Kevin Rynn, clinical professor and dean of UIC Pharmacy’s Rockford campus. “He and his family exemplify compassion and empathy to our students and show the impact of having excellent pharmacists in the community setting."

Patel met his current wife, Ann, a nurse, when she would bring patients in to fill their prescriptions. Today, she plays an important role in their community work by building relationships with the local homeless population and bringing them meals. Together, the couple has supported flu and COVID vaccination clinics, worked with assisted living facilities, and continued to serve Rockford’s most vulnerable residents.

“It is more like family than a pharmacy,” says Dorothy Reddic, former case manager at what is now the Rosecrance Ware Center. She recalls when Patel helped her patients get their medications despite their lack of insurance. More recently, Patel helped Reddic fill her own prescriptions with behind-the-scenes assistance when it seemed insurance wasn’t going to cover costs.

“They advise me on [health-related issues] I’m not even thinking about, things nobody else has brought up or questions I didn’t even know to ask,” says Reddic. “As long as they’re open, and I’m alive and able to go there, I will be getting my prescriptions filled there.”

With City Center Market officially open and the mobile market in the works, Patel is as busy as ever. Yet his motivation remains simple: caring for the community that has sustained him since 1986.

“Most pharmacies survive because they have a connection with patients,” he says. “I’d say I know 99 percent of my patients by name. I have patients come in and ask if they remember me because they used to come in with their grandparent. Now the connection is generational.”

As Rockford’s Downtown West continues its revival, Patel’s investment is both practical and symbolic. It demonstrates that locally owned, community-rooted businesses can thrive even amid shifting economic landscapes—and that pharmacists, in particular, have a unique role to play in public health.