P\' A~flci"~ FUTMRE occupations The Harding College of Pharmacy might have been new to the Harding community, but that did not stop them from making a name for themselves during the past four years. Each of those years, Main Street Searcy hosted an event called Get Down Downtown, a festival that took place on the downtown square. The event provided the College of Pharmacy with the opportunity to host a booth, practice their skills and benefit people in the community. At the booth this year, under professor supervision, students checked blood pressure and blood glucose levels, measured body mass indexes and talked about medication management therapy, immunizations and vaccines. They also passed out medication reconciliation cards so that community members could record the medications they were currently taking. With these medications constantly changing, the students realized they needed to be able to communicate with a wide range of people, and Get Down Downtown served as great practice for these communication skills. "Pharmacy is changing so much as a profession," graduate student Morgan Evans said. "We now do a lot more than just dispense medication. Since pharmacists are the easiest to access, we communicate much more with patients than many other medical professionals do." Tim Howard, assistant professor of pharmacy, agreed the event offered students a perfect time to interact with the public. "Any time students interact with the public, they're going to better learn the application side of the textbook learning they've received, so that does help students," Howard said. "The community benefits from this information and help booth by allowing people who might not have insurance to speak with a medical professional." Students also noticed positive reactions from the people they served at their booth, watching them realize things about their health they might not have known previously. "The booth helped people get a sense of how their bodies were doing," graduate student Daniel Hardison said. The festival, which lasted Friday evening and all day Saturday, was counted as a success, with pharmacy students assisting over 250 people with various health checks and screenings. Students felt that their coursework, including a communication class and 24 hours of outside work, helped them successfully administer aid to the Searcy community during the festival. "The work we do in the classroom reinforces work that we do in the field, which helps the patients in the long run," graduate student Brantley Underwood said. Overall, students had a great time and looked forward to more ways to reach out to others in the future. "I enjoyed educating the public," Evans said. "It was really encouraging to see that people wanted to learn from me and that I could help them, even though I am a student." Mallory Davis f 2 + Health Science A.~QAv\~ of l'k~s.ic.iM A.s.StisJ-M-h. Row 1: A. Cain, E. Cowan,]. Maraldo, T. Tunnell, S. Bradbury. Row 2: G. Hill (sponsor), K. McNeill, C. Dahl, D. Miller, A. Carpenter, D. Gibson.
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