ETSU’s Dawnna Metcalfe educates students on the misuse of prescription medications.

For several years, East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has been a leader in naloxone training. The ETSU APhA–ASP Chapter has strived to train as many individuals as possible on recognizing an opioid overdose, the proper use of naloxone, and decreasing the stigma associated with dispensing the life-saving medication. Through their efforts at the National Student Nurses’ Association Annual Convention, ETSU trained more than 850 meeting attendees by holding four separate interactive naloxone training sessions and two focus sessions.

Through fundraising and grant applications, the chapter distributed 2,000 units of naloxone to the local communities in east Tennessee. They were also able to increase public outreach through a local television station that profiled one of their training events in collaboration with the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists Chapter at ETSU. The television coverage reached more than 36,000 viewers in the rural region.

UMKC receives the 2017-18 APhA-ASP Generation Rx National Award at APhA2019.

The Generation Rx chairs at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) set an aggressive goal in 2017 to expand their chapter’s programming by not only implementing new events, but also increasing the level of public engagement during existing educational sessions. Through their efforts, the chapter experienced a 59% growth in the number of individuals educated, a 22% increase in public/media relations, and conducted 9 new events from the previous year.

We spoke with Amelia Godfrey, UMKC’s current Vice President of Patient Care Projects, about their national award-winning campaign in 2017–18, and she attributed the growth to the chapter’s structure and expansion of community partnerships. “Our chapter is unique in that we are one chapter in three locations. This means we get to interact in three different communities,” Amelia said.

Amelia also highlighted how local community partnerships can lead to greater innovation and the expansion of the role of the pharmacist on substance abuse disorder coalitions. “We added a unique aspect to our Generation Rx program in Springfield this year, through a partnership with a local prevention organization. Over the last few years, this partnership has afforded us opportunities to reach countless people through Generation Rx using funds from grants that the organization receives for substance abuse disorder education. This organization now employs a student pharmacist each year to coordinate use of state grant funds to educate more and more patients.”

Here demonstrating the ‘Upward Facing Dog’ pose, Jennifer Schweiger urges everyone to give yoga a try.

As a student pharmacist eager to explore various pursuits, it’s easy to take on many tasks and get caught up in the hustle and bustle of pharmacy school. While you are motivated and willing to put in the high-quality work to execute these tasks, finding time for self-care can be challenging. 

Self-care looks different for everyone. For me, it is finding time to practice yoga every day. I schedule it in my calendar and if asked to meet during that time, I respond that I have a prior commitment. It is my 1 hour of the day where I have no iMessage buzzing, no e-mail pinging, and no one to answer to. It is my 1 hour of the day where I am not worried about checking that next item off my to-do list and can turn off my mind and simply breathe.