Helping the Community College of Pharmacy strives to provide patient-centered care I ntegrating faith, learning and living through service to the community was a goal for each academic department, a goal the College of Pharmacy achieved by providing free health screenings at White County fall events. The College of Pharmacy aligned with the Million Hearts Initiative to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes and received a $5,000 grant from the National Association of Chain Drugs Store to implement the screenings. "About 6 million people died of heart diseases in 2009," Dr. Jeanie Smith, assistant professor of pharmacy, said. "Saving a million hearts over five years is a pretty lofty goal because 6 million die every year." Pharmacy students and faculty members staffed a booth at the White County Fair Sept. 10-15, and the Get Down Downtown festival Sept. 28-29, to provide medical counseling to members of the community. With the grant from the NACDS, the College of Pharmacy administered cholesterol tests and provided aspirin to everyone that visited the booth, in addition to services offered in previous years such as blood pressure tests, health screenings and even flu shots. Since the health screenings began in 2008, the booth attracted an average of 400-450 people, according to Smith. By expanding the services with the aid of grant money, the College of Pharmacy interacted with more than 800 people. The mission of the booth was to educate people about the "ABCS" of maintaining a healthy heart. "A" represented appropriate aspirin therapy for those who needed it, "B," blood pressure control, "C," cholesterol management and "S" for smoking cessation. "In general we just feel that it is part of our responsibility as health care providers to get out there and educate the public," Dr. Julie Hixson-Wallace, dean of the College of Pharmacy, said. The students involved in the booth valued the experience as an opportunity for them to improve the quality of people's lives. Amy Tran, a second year pharmacy student, said it made her feel good to enlighten people and let them know simple things that would make a difference in their lives. Logistics and a heart of service were crucial in ensuring the success of a campaign of this level. Hixson-Wallace was informed of the Million Hearts Initiative grant in a meeting during the summer. The purpose of the grant was to support events closely related to heart disease prevention, and the only stipulation was that the money had to be spent in September. She talked with professors about the grant and created a campaign with the cooperation of faculty and students. Participating in the Million Hearts Initiative rewarded students with the opportunity to practice their classroom skills and potentially save the lives of many members of the community. The pharmacy students were able to demonstrate their servant hearts while helping others take care of their own hearts. Henry Gonzalez/Laura Chambers Offering free health screenings, pharmacy student Saaman Habibi draws blood glucose from a patient to analyze the level of cholesterol in his body Sept. 28. Pharmacy students provided free health screenings for White County residents at Main Street Searcy's Get Down Downtown festival Sept. 28-29. Chaney Mitchell est.2008 Department of Pharmacy 33 faculty 148 courses est.2011 Department of Physical Therapy 9 faculty 140 courses Allied Health 1109
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