{"id":5659,"date":"2006-10-31T18:26:02","date_gmt":"2006-10-31T18:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/?p=5659"},"modified":"2006-10-31T18:26:02","modified_gmt":"2006-10-31T18:26:02","slug":"uri-pharmacy-student-is-grandfather-full-time-emt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/2006\/10\/31\/uri-pharmacy-student-is-grandfather-full-time-emt\/","title":{"rendered":"URI pharmacy student is grandfather, full-time EMT"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ron Hammond is a member of the Woonsocket Fire Department and a Woonsocket resident. He also interns at CVS in Park Square while earning his pharmacy degree at URI. URI News bureau photo by Michael Salerno Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nKINGSTON, R.I. — October 31, 2006 — \u201cYou\u2019re my boy Blue, you\u2019re my boy.\u201d This quote, from the movie Old School, refers to an 89-year-old fraternity member, but is also used by the members of the University of Rhode Island pharmacy fraternity Kappa Psi to refer to one of their own. They are talking about Ronald Hammond, the 54-year-old, second-year pharmacy major and fellow pharmacy fraternity member.
\nWhy did Hammond decide to return to school at this age, and tackle one of the University\u2019s most difficult majors? \u201cI had lots of free time on my hands,\u201d Hammond said, and he wanted to put it to good use. \u201cGoing back to school would help me gain knowledge and make me able to treat my patients better.\u201d Hammond has also been a full-time emergency medical technician with the Woonsocket Fire Department for the past 9 years. \u201cMany patients we pick up on the rescue are on a myriad of medications. I want to know that any treatment or medication I give doesn’t have an adverse affect on them.\u201d
\nHammond is the fundraising chairman of the pharmacy fraternity Kappa Psi, which has provided him the clout to voice his opinion on the upcoming vote on Question 4, which would fund construction of a new $65 million pharmacy building at URI. He says the current building, Fogarty Hall, is outdated. \u201cA new facility would provide more labs and classroom space,\u201d said Hammond. \u201cPlus we need a computer room for on-line research with a student lounge to relax in while studying.\u201d He also feels that classrooms should be more state-of-the-art and faculty offices need to be bigger than \u201cthe size of a small closet.\u201d In addition to his work within the fraternity, Hammond is also a member of the Association of Student Pharmacists, and is an intern at CVS.
\nTwo years ago as a URI chemistry major, he applied to the pharmacy college, and not even a 3.6 grade point average was enough to get him in. \u201cI was a little frustrated, but you know the old saying \u2018what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.\u2019 I didn’t give it a second thought though. I was determined to get in the program and I was going to do what it took, including taking courses again in which I got a B to get an A,\u201d said Hammond. He worked even harder, and the following year, a 3.76 grade point average earned him a spot in the college. Now that he is in, he is taking some extremely difficult courses, like pharmacotherapeutics and pharmacokinetics, but it is not all work and no play. \u201cI get to enjoy other aspects of college life. I go to an occasional concert or football or basketball game. Plus I go to the gym and work out and play basketball.\u201d
\nHammond is a native of Woonsocket. He graduated from the city\u2019s high school and proceeded to college for a year, after which he decided to join the Navy. After serving four years and earning his degree in electrical engineering, he left to take classes part time at Roger Williams University, while volunteering for the North Smithfield Fire Department. He then went to school to earn his emergency medical technician license at the age of 45. Upon earning his license, he joined the Woonsocket Fire Department, becoming one of its oldest rookies.
\nAside from his jobs and classes, Hammond is happily married to Kathy. The couple has two children and three grandchildren. \u201cI have the best wife in the world. If I have to stay late at school to study or I have a school function, she understands and is very supportive,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I make sure that I have time for them, whether it\u2019s going out to dinner and a movie with my wife or to my grandson’s football game.\u201d
\nTo summarize his experiences with URI and his fraternity up to this point Hammond said, \u201cIt\u2019s incredible. I\u2019m treated like one of the guys even though I\u2019m the oldest one here.\u201d Hammond plans to finish his career with the Woonsocket Fire Department while also working as a pharmacist.
\nMedia Contact: Dave Lavallee<\/a>, 401-874-5862<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. — October 31, 2006 — \u201cYou\u2019re my boy Blue, you\u2019re my boy.\u201d This quote, from the movie Old School, refers to an 89-year-old fraternity member, but is also used by the members of the University of Rhode Island pharmacy fraternity Kappa Psi to refer to one of their own. They are talking about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":639,"featured_media":5661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[35,50,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-pharmd","category-news-student-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/639"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}