Regional chapter advances policy initiatives; ‘Operation Immunization’ honored
Students from the URI College of Pharmacy hosted the northeast regional conference of the American Pharmacists Association in Providence recently, advancing the region’s proposed policy changes to the national organization, and picking up an award for the College’s Operation Immunization program.
Third-year Pharm.D. student Angela Dansereau, along with a dozen fellow College students, coordinated the regional meeting of more than 200 attendees from 16 colleges of pharmacy from around the northeast, booking speakers, organizing fundraising efforts and handling all setup and breakdown of the weekend-long event. The conference featured networking events, leadership training, and presentations on pharmaceutical issues, including sessions by URI Pharmacy Professor Anita Jacobson and Professor Emeritus Norman Campbell.
The northeast chapter also identified key pharmaceutical issues and proposed policy changes it will advance to the national organization. The chapter aims to encourage legislation that would allow pharmacists to prescribe and dispense birth control and HIV prophylaxis. The chapter also to encourage greater LGBTQ inclusion in pharmacy education.
“We voted on the issues in the industry that we feel need change,” Dansereau said. “We will move them to the national committee, which adopts policies it feels pharmacists should be following. This is something pharmacists should be doing. When a large organization like this makes a statement, it can impact policy at the state and federal level.”
During the conference, URI won the APhA Chapter Achievement Award for the second time since 2011. The College was honored for its Operation Immunization program. Led by Clinical Associate Professor Virginia Lemay, the program aims to increase the rate of vaccinations on campus to protect against influenza and, more recently, Meningitis B, a relatively new strain of meningococcal disease that is not covered in typical meningitis vaccinations required by most college campuses.
Lemay began the project with an education campaign this fall, including a student survey to determine students’ level of knowledge of the disease. The education campaign is followed by a vaccination clinic, with participating students receiving the first shot in October and another in November. The clinic is open to all students ages 19-23. The project aims to encourage a ripple affect across the university. She plans a second round of vaccinations in the Spring to inoculate more students, and hopes to encourage university leaders to act. The long-term goal is to generate data that will convince the university admissions office to require meningitis B vaccines for all incoming students.
The URI College of Pharmacy will be recognized for its award during the APhA national conference in Maryland March 20-23, where the northeast chapter will also present its issues, along with the Operation Immunizations program.
“We’re trying to get it mandated,” Dansereau said. “We made everyone aware of it at last year’s national meeting. It hasn’t passed yet, but we definitely have gotten the message out there.”