On May 18, Joe and I attended a dessert reception at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy for the Partner for Promotion program. Plain City Druggist is involved in the Partner for Promotion program. Joe acts as a preceptor for the pharmacy students who work on advanced patient care service projects during their final year in pharmacy school. The students who choose to participate in this program are real go-getters, as they don’t receive any extra credit for doing this. They do, however, learn a lot for their futures as pharmacists. They also really have to be able to manage their time well. The projects usually establish programs in community pharmacies that can continue to work after the students are no longer there. These programs include diabetes clinics, OTC counseling programs, cholesterol monitoring, and other important health services that patients need.

Our pharmacy student and soon-to-be pharmacist, Kelly Hawk, did a Partner for Promotion project as a fourth year pharmacy student this past year at Schieber Family Pharmacy in Circleville, Ohio. Working with owner and pharmacist, Larry Schieber, and pharmacist, Karlyn Neff, Kelly’s project was called “Prescription to Quit” and provided tobacco/smoking cessation counseling and education to smokers who wanted to end their habit.

Kelly (on the end at the right) with other Partner for Promotion students.

Kelly not only set up the program, but she also began a collaboration with Berger Health System in the Circleville area to create a new class series called Stay Quit Tobacco Treatment Program. With this collaboration, Schieber’s will be able to provide medication counseling for patients trying to quit and then recommend them to the Berger classes for behavioral counseling. Studies have shown that for people to successfully quit smoking, they need changes in behavior along with medications to help them stop. Kelly will actually be teaching a class in this series on June 1.

We are so proud of Kelly, who will be graduating from the College of Pharmacy next month. She is going to be a wonderful pharmacist and we are proud that we had something to do with that!

Kelly with Pharmacist Larry Schieber of Schieber Family Pharmacy in Circleville, Ohio.