Advocacy comes in many forms, and no matter the role you play, Meg Freiter advises to always keep your patients in mind.

One of the first assignments I was given as the 2019–20 APhA Executive Resident was to represent APhA at a pandemic planning meeting in Washington, DC. At one point, the stakeholders contemplated the theoretical need for widespread distribution of a vaccine during a public health emergency. An attendee approached the microphone to insist that the United States Postal Service (USPS) be engaged, and I wondered why it wasn’t more clear to others that they could rely on the distribution channels used by the most accessible health care provider in the United States—pharmacists. I recall leaving the meeting feeling disheartened that pharmacists weren’t mentioned by any of the speakers.

Fast forward a few months, and the closing days of my residency were marked by the biggest public health crisis in modern history. Now, with USPS at the center of a political showdown and potential COVID–19 vaccines likely to require extremely cold temperatures for storage, it’s safe to say the assertions during that pandemic planning meeting are being challenged. Pharmacists nationwide were ready to meet these challenges, fighting on the front lines of the COVID–19 pandemic as a critical health care access point for patients.

A new program spurred a mentor–mentee relationship between Zoona Ahmad (left) and Madi Eberle, which has also helped them both grow as leaders.

For me, Madi, mentorship has sparked special connections and fostered ambition, eagerness for continuous learning, and courage to face challenges head-on. My personal experiences shed light on the importance of mentorship in both personal and professional settings and inspired me to develop a mentorship program within the Purdue University APhA–ASP Chapter.

Thanks to organ donors, the Olhausen’s are elated to continue gathering for family events, from weddings to fishing, with Dad.

According to DonateLife.net, 22 people die waiting for an organ transplant each day, and one person is added to the organ transplant waiting list every 10 minutes. With these statistics, you could say it is a miracle to receive a solid organ transplant. Organ donation and transplantation holds a special place in my heart, as this miracle allowed me to grow up with my best friend: my dad. 

Gathering information from multiple platforms has led led to positive momentum in Emily Lothspeich’s life.

During the summer of 2019, I drove 30 minutes both ways to my first-year professional student institutional IPPE. This car ride seemed like lost time for productivity in my eyes, so, per recommendation from my older sister, I started listening to the podcast Choose FI. To be completely honest, I didn’t like listening to the podcast at all, which made me feel like a failure. I love reading, learning, and growing, so a podcast should have been the perfect fit for me! But it wasn’t for me. 

Fast forward to summer 2020, when I am now driving 45 minutes to my second-year community IPPE. I started listening to Empower HER and Your Financial Pharmacist (YFP) in the car. I absolutely fell in love with their messages and can’t listen to them enough now. I turn on Empower HER whenever I get a chance—while I am cooking, getting ready in the morning, on my daily walks, and any other time where my mind would normally wander. I have realized I am not going to enjoy every podcast or book I get my hands on, but there are going to be some that really hit home.

Each day, Justin Bladecki finds himself benefitting from his breadth of experience.

I joined the Army National Guard while I was still in high school and deployed to Iraq at the end of 2004, the same year I graduated. Overseas, I served as a combat engineer and heavy equipment operator. One of the interesting things that I learned as an engineer in the National Guard was how much more versatile our unit was than our active duty counterparts.

In the military, everyone is trained to do a single job. What makes the National Guard unique is that everyone in the Guard is a citizen as well as a soldier. I was fresh out of high school, but the rest of my unit had civilian jobs. We had railway workers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, police, and those in countless other jobs. Those all came with their own skill sets, and it allowed our unit to accomplish tasks outside of the confines of what the Army had trained us to do.

This was my first exposure to the value of versatility, and I have been thinking about it more often recently. You see, I never planned on being a pharmacist.