We hear you! Your pharmacy workplace is stressed and stretched. You have rapidly growing concerns for patient safety. Still, you are there—every day—to care for your patients despite conditions that seem to be working against you.

As we reach the midpoint of American Pharmacists Month, we must continuously honor the pharmacists who do heroic work every day in the face of incredible pressures. Pharmacy workforce shortages exist in almost every area of the country. Corporations can seem insufficiently responsive to the stresses of pharmacy practice. Patients may aggressively challenge the professional judgment of pharmacists and other pharmacy personnel. A toxic mixture of vaccine misinformation and disinformation fuels distrust. Keeping up-to-date with the rapidly evolving vaccine guidance from government authorities can be difficult. We recognize these problems and are thankful for your invaluable work.

Earlier this month, HHS was working on an aggressive deadline. President Joe Biden had given them 45 days to develop a comprehensive plan to lower drug prices, and the clock was ticking. HHS asked stakeholders across the spectrum to provide input during a special roundtable discussion. Guess who they called from pharmacy?

I’m now home after an amazing two weeks on the road for the Great Midwest Pharmacy Unity Tour. This was my first extended trip outside DC as CEO, where I met many of pharmacy’s patriots and did some meaningful business, all to move pharmacy forward.

A true pharmacy icon, Dr. Joseph A. Oddis, left the Earth this week. He began his life of service to pharmacy and its patients as a young man, going on to become the CEO of ASHP for 37 years and the recipient of the profession’s most distinguished accolades, including the Remington Medal and Hugo Schaefer Award. Over the course of his long career, Dr. Oddis touched every crevice and contour of pharmacy practice as we know it, and in doing so made an untold impact on the lives of millions of patients under pharmacists’ care.