Student guest post by Hillary Best, second year student pharmacist. Best was selected to attend RxIMPACT Day on Capitol Hill earlier this month. She shares her experiences in this post.
When people think about pharmacies and pharmacists, I’m sure a lot of things come to mind. If you’re a patient, you probably view them as a health care professional, someone you trust. As a pharmacist, you probably think of your pharmacy as a place that provides patient care and medicines but maybe you feel like you don’t get recognized for all the things you do. If you’re a student, you’re probably just struggling to get through the many agonizing hours of studying to pass the board exam one day. Few people ever link the words pharmacy and politics together, but they are linked, and they are linked through advocacy.
I didn’t know much about advocacy or how that correlated with the profession of Pharmacy until I went to Washington, D.C. for RxIMPACT Day on Capitol Hill. I was a student pharmacist selected by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) to go to Washington, D.C. from March 16th to March 17th, 2016 to learn about policy and advocacy in the pharmacy profession.
The NACDS has now hosted this event for 8 years and it is a time where professionals in the field of pharmacy and student pharmacists can get together to learn about current legislation in pharmacy, learn about advocating for pharmacy, and, of course, go to Capitol Hill to make our voice heard.
A Learning Experience
On my first day there, I attended RxIMPACT U Academy and learned how to speak to U.S. Senators, Congressional Representatives, and their legislative correspondents. One of the major bills we tried to gain support for during this time in D.C. was H.R. 592/S. 314, also known as the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act. If this bill were to pass, it would allow Pharmacists to be recognized as Health Care providers under Medicare Part B.
Pharmacists are currently an underutilized tool, and with 94% of Americans living within 5 miles of a retail pharmacy, a pharmacist can be a patient’s quickest access point for health care. Pharmacists can provide immunizations, medication therapy management, cost-saving health tests and chronic condition management for things such as diabetes and heart disease. It is imperative to get this bill to pass to allow pharmacists to give patients in underserved areas better healthcare.
Capitol Hill
On the morning of the 17th, we arrived early for a briefing before each of the teams went out to Capitol Hill for their scheduled appointments with their representatives. I was on North Carolina Team 2 for the day. On my team was a political affairs director from the NACDS who is originally from North Carolina, a Manager of Food Lion Pharmacy who also lives in North Carolina, and myself, representing Campbell University College of Pharmacy 7 Health Sciences.
During our day we were scheduled to meet with Representatives David Rouzer, Alma Adams, David Price, Mark Walker, Richard Hudson and Senator Richard Burr. For those representatives who could not meet us in person, their legislative assistants filled in and listened to our concerns. For those who already co-sponsored the bill, it was more of meeting to extend our gratitude as a profession. Something I thought was particularly impacting was getting to see that the representatives and their legislative assistants truly cared to hear our concerns. This revealed to me that when you advocate for something you believe will bring benefit to a community of people, your representatives do hear your voice.
Sharing is Caring!
Overall, this experience was more impactful than I could have imagined. I witnessed how much our representatives truly care about the people they represent and the issues that are impacting them. During RxIMPACT U Academy and RxIMPACT Day on Capitol Hill I was taught invaluable information that will remain with me through the rest of pharmacy school and into the profession. I hope to take these experiences with me to help educate other students, pharmacists, and members of the community on what a pharmacist is and what they can do for them as patients.
The world of pharmacy is a changing place; it is being transformed to fit the patient, and that’s where it needs to go. Pharmacists do not merely sit behind counters and count pills. We know our patients. They come to us in times of need and trust us for recommendations for them, their families, and friends. We currently have a chance to impact the patients’ lives for the better by being recognized as health care providers by Medicare Part B and gaining access to patients in underserved areas.
Maybe you know a pharmacist who has impacted your family in some way, maybe you’re a pharmacist who has impacted someone’s life in a profound way. Make your voice heard! Write to your district representatives and senators and let them know how important pharmacy is to the community and how important it is for those in underserved areas to have better access to healthcare.
I especially want to encourage all of my fellow student pharmacists to advocate for our future profession, your voice is crucial and will most definitely be heard!