University of Wyoming, Howard University pharmacy students visit Saratoga to learn about rural healthcare during exchange program
Dr. Emma Bjore, left, introduces the visiting pharmacological students to the staff at the Saratoga Care Center Friday.
Visiting pharmacological students ask questions of pharmacist Robin Miller while visiting Valley Pharmacy Friday.
Clinical Pharmacist and UW Professor Tonja Woods, third from right, asks Mandy Cooper, RN, seated, about how privacy laws work in a small town.
Mandy Cooper, RN, left, shows students a Braslo bag that contains appropriately sized equipment and gear for different age ranges.
UW Dean of Pharmacy Kem P. Krueger, middle, asks Saratoga Care Center administrator Mark Pesognelli, left, about rural healthcare.
From left, UW Pharma student Ashley Moore and Howard University Pharma student Nkiruka Emezienna look at patient charts at the Saratoga Care Center to see what medications are being used for patients.
University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy students, and their counterparts from Howard University College of Pharmacy, have been participating in the Health Equity Leadership Program, an innovative exchange program. The initiative, funded by the 23rd Annual National Chain Drug stores (NACDS) Foundation Scholarship Program, is geared toward challenging students to get "outside of their comfort zone" to learn first-hand about both urban and rural healthcare access and equity issues.
"Traditionally, diversity challenges and health disparities are focused on trying to explore differences through classroom case integration," says Toyin Tofade, dean of Howard University College of Pharmacy. "The partnership gives students from both regions an opportunity to learn lessons from each other's environment and to be better educated about how to serve and care for various types of communities."
PharmD students from the two institutions have been participating in the nine-month program which began in the fall of 2018. As a part of the program, the group toured Washington, D.C., to evaluate inner-city healthcare systems, visit professional associations and meet congressional leaders. They have also been touring Wyoming to evaluate rural critical access hospitals and rural healthcare systems.
Friday, the group was in Saratoga at the Platte Valley Clinic, the Saratoga Care Center and Valley Pharmacy to get employee's views on rural healthcare.
"Students will work together to compare and contrast rural and urban healthcare delivery systems while honing their own leadership skills," says Kem Krueger, dean of the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy. "I think this program will be transformational and allow participants to work toward the Healthy People 2020 goals. We are empowering the next generation of pharmacists to lead from outside of their comfort zones".
The funding awarded to the Health Equity Leadership Program is one of six awards granted by the NACDS Foundation for 2018. These merit-based scholarships fund patient-centered, community-based coursework or other curriculum innovations.
The NACDS Foundation Scholarship Program was established in 1997 to fund prospective projects that have the potential to significantly advance patient care. Since then, nearly $4 million in scholarships has been provided to support pharmacy education programs.
Healthy People 2020 is an initiative of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that aims to encourage collaborations across communities and sectors in order to improve the health of all Americans.
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