Kristin Werner (left) and Jackie Brogie.

While recently attending an AHEC Scholars Program presentation on barriers to health care in the LGBTQ+ community, some staggering statistics were revealed about the transgender community. These included 41% of transgender individuals have attempted suicide and 19% have been refused medical care by a health care provider.¹ Since 1.4 million adults identify as transgender in the United States, why are we not doing more to help this population? Similar statistics in other patient populations, such as patients with diabetes or cancer, would not be tolerated. Assertive interventions with changes to practices and protocols would be put in place. Transgender persons suffer significant health disparities and are an underserved population in health care.¹ Many transgender folks avoid seeking medical care due to discrimination and not having access to knowledgeable health care providers who are educated on transgender issues.² 

After this presentation, I (Jackie) felt compelled to be a part of the solution in some way. I remembered that Kristin had pronouns in her e-mail signature during our first-year of pharmacy school. While this piqued my curiosity, I had never asked her about it. I took a chance and reached out to ask if she would add those pronouns back—as she had taken them off due to fear of judgment—and that I would support her efforts. This started several good discussions when people saw our e-mail signatures. Some joined in and added their pronouns, but not as many as we had hoped.

As health professionals, we have a duty to our patients to improve outcomes to the best of our abilities. Treating the whole person, listening to our patient’s needs, being understanding, and advocating for our patients are within our realm of responsibility. The Oath of a Pharmacist states: “I will embrace and advocate changes that improve patient care.” A simple way to express support of transgender/non-binary patients and colleagues would be to add pronouns to e-mail signatures, business cards, and name tags.

Scotty Reams: 'Take risks and think outside the box.'

When I was a kid, the same ice cream truck would visit my house each summer. It wasn’t an ordinary ice cream truck, though. What made this ice cream truck so special? Well, the ice cream was always free and the operator of the truck just happened to be my state representative. Over the years, that ice cream truck-driving state representative taught me that government and advocacy could be fun. He sparked a fire within me that led me to become the 2020 APhA Good Government Student Pharmacist-of-the-Year.

During high school and throughout my undergraduate experience, I volunteered on a number of political campaigns. That involvement led to an internship in Rep. Hal Rogers’s (R–KY) Washington, DC, office. From there, the congressman and Kentucky’s governor appointed me to a task force challenged with revitalizing eastern Kentucky’s economy. These experiences only fueled the flame that the state representative once ignited.

'Heather' is also now known as Kristi Fritch, PharmD, MBA.

Over the past year, I have thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to share my experiences on rotation as a final-year student pharmacist. Since my year on rotation has come to an end, it is now time for me to take the off the mask, metaphorically of course, and share my true identity. My name is Kristi Fritch and I am a brand-new pharmacist! 

I recently graduated from Belmont University College of Pharmacy and served on the 2019–20  Communications Standing Committee. Thank you so much for a great year. I have enjoyed getting to document my experiences and reflect on the valuable preceptor feedback. 

Throughout our time together, I have discussed serving through the highs and lows, managing expectations, empathizing with patients, maintaining resiliency, and powering through a pandemic. What a formative year! APPEs give you a glimpse into what the profession can truly offer. At times, it can be challenging to navigate, but make sure you reach out to others for guidance along the way. 

With the assistance of student pharmacists like Alexsandra Nilges, the University of Kentucky plans to distribute 500 gallons of sanitizer every 2 weeks throughout the fall to support area health care providers and patients.

“All of the hand sanitizer was cleared out of the grocery store …”, I overheard from a nurse on the team as I left a patient’s room. That was at the earliest stages of COVID–19, when we, the inpatient pharmacy interns, were still onsite conducting medication histories in person. 

This was also right around the time the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitizer for our front-line workers was becoming a nationally recognized issue. Leaving work that evening, I imagined different ways student pharmacists could get more involved. In March, FDA issued regulatory guidance for the temporary compounding of alcohol-based hand sanitizer products. Remembering this and the conversation I overheard at work, I e-mailed Clark Kebodeaux, PharmD, BCACP, our APhA–ASP Chapter Advisor at the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Pharmacy, to see if we could come up with a plan to compound hand sanitizer for University of Kentucky HealthCare (UKHC) and surrounding communities. 

Michael Murphy (left) and Nimit Jindal.

Founded in 2020, “The Grassroots Pharmacist” is a blog focused on educating readers how health policy impacts the practice of pharmacy and how pharmacists and student pharmacists can make positive impacts through grassroots advocacy. We want to inspire action among our readers to transform health policy and ensure patient access to quality, affordable health care. Although this is a new adventure for us, we hope that through sharing how we created this blog, we can empower you to be the solution to any problem you find.