Geri-Care Pharmaceutical has expanded its operation and will be adding 200 jobs to its facility on the Gulf Coast. Geri-Care produces over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements and their products are found in long-term care facilities and hospitals, as well as some of the nation’s largest drug chains and retailers like Walgreens and CVS.
Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes said Geri-Care is one of the largest employers in Gulfport and has a huge impact nationwide.
“A lot of people don’t know it, but if they take an antacid in America, it was probably made in Gulfport, Mississippi,” Hewes said. “They’ve had so much success here. They saw an opportunity a few years back to take an adjacent warehouse and totally re-tool it so now they have over 200,000 additional feet of manufacturing space. They are working toward bringing some new equipment in, a new production line and they are already hiring about 120 people, but looking to expand that significantly.
Governor Bryant announced the expansion earlier this week during a ribbon cutting of the factory in Gulfport.
We cut the ribbon on Geri-Care’s factory expansion today in Gulfport, MS. Up to 200 new jobs will be created due to this expansion right here in the USA and supporting American workers. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/AriWjZHLst
— Phil Bryant (@PhilBryantMS) January 29, 2019
Hewes said the company is hoping to get the new product lines rolling in the next year. He added that Gulfport is looking to partner with various companies and businesses in the area with developing and training the future workforce.
“Our high school has totally been re-tooled from a curriculum standpoint and we focus not only on college prep, but there are academies that we have for kids who are going through high school and can get on a career path very early, from 9th grade on,” said Hewes. “When they leave school, they have got a set of skills and they are ready to work while some of them are graduating with Associates degrees because many of these programs are done in conjuncture with the local community college, so there’s just a lot of synergy going on right now and we have learned pretty well on how to integrate the education of our workforce and training into our schools.”
