Building a sense of pride in the community
Karissa May is a final-year PharmD candidate at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Pharmacy.
Receiving the 2021–2022 APhA–ASP Chapter Patient Care Award was such a fulfilling accomplishment. Hearing our name called at the 2023 APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition this past March was a proud moment for the whole chapter because we know how hard we worked the year prior to receive this award.
Going to where patients needed us
The 2021–2022 school year was the first time our chapter could truly bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic, as patients were finally comfortable with leaving their homes. We began the year in Sedalia, MO, at the Missouri State Fair, where 13 chapter members provided the community with 129 blood glucose screenings and referred five patients to their primary care provider based on their results. This kick-off event was able to provide a positive impact on patients from all across the state.
Following the fair, we collaborated with a total of 28 statewide organizations on various projects. We didn’t want to limit ourselves to our personal bubble by just holding events at the school. Instead, we sought to go out into the community and be there where patients needed us.
One of the events in particular was with the Girl Scouts of America. We sent the Women’s Health Initiative Committee out to educate these young women on the importance of self-love and body positivity. At a different event, we educated elderly patients in our community through our Falls Prevention Initiative. This initiative created a partnership with local senior centers and nursing homes to distribute a “falls newsletter,” which educated readers on how to prevent falls and had a fun crossword puzzle and other games for mental enrichment.
Extending our reach
Something else extraordinary that helped us reach a large patient population was our billboard. This billboard was displayed over a high-traffic interstate in Kansas City and was seen by more than 15 million residents. The topics featured on this billboard were rotated through monthly and ranged from information on breast cancer awareness to poison prevention, mental health awareness, Drug Take Back Day, and the promotion of American Heart Month and American Diabetes Month.
Efforts pay off
Overall, this award gives us a sense of pride that we are not only helping our local community members, but we are able to realize that our efforts are actually paying off. I hope that other chapters see what we were able to accomplish through using partnerships in the community and going out of our way to constantly put the patients first.
We are honored to have received this distinguished award, and we are even prouder to be a chapter of APhA–ASP!