MARIETTA — In the next 19 years, an average of 11,000 people a day will turn 65 in America, according to U.S. Census Bureau predictions. That trend toward longer lives is creating business opportunities in a variety of markets.

In Marietta, Matt Hopp and Kathy Gibson, business partners who met working in another pharmacy, partnered with Atlanta-based Guardian Pharmacy, LLC, the third-largest institutional pharmacy company in the country, to open a Guardian long-term care pharmacy in Marietta.

Earlier this year, they located the 10,000-square-foot, non-retail pharmacy on Enterprise Way, near Dobbins Air Reserve Base, off Cobb Parkway in Marietta. Hopp and Gibson said the pharmacy is serving residents of long-term care homes, group homes, assisted living and skilled nursing communities in surrounding areas from north Georgia and as far south as Griffin. It currently has 11 employees but plans to add more as the business grows.

According to Hopp, owner and president, the company’s focus is solely on the medicine, deliveries and helping its clients properly administer a large number of medications to a large number of people.

“When people are on eight to 20 medications a day, it is challenging for the nurse who is administrating,” Hopp said. He says the company offers an ancillary consulting service to go on-site with the facilities to ensure they are compliant in their medication practices.

Hopp says one of things they wanted to offer in their business model is the technology to help care facilities deal with the overwhelming job of dispensing medication. This technology includes “eMars,” or electronic medication administration records systems, which are stored on laptops mounted on medication carts. This eliminates the need for huge amounts of paper for the nurses to monitor and record medication passes.

“It streamlines the whole process,” said Gibson, a pharmacist who serves as director of operations. “It allows them to put a lot of information on one precise screen. The customers love it. It gives them more time to spend with their patients.”

With deliveries being a large function of their business, Gibson and Hopp said they located in Marietta primarily for its access.

“We can service all of Atlanta and all of north Georgia effectively from Marietta. It’s also a great location for our employees,” Hopp said.