Clip from past xanga

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

.....everything has finally simmered down. I have time to think now, time to sort out my thoughts and I realize how much I am enjoying pharmacy school. I don't remember the last time I actually WANTED to study or get involved in every social event, every health fair, every training session, every opportunity to improve myself as a future pharmacist. This past Saturday several of us P1’s (slang for1st year student pharmacists) volunteered at one of the SnAPha Health Fairs in Oakland. (SnAPha reaches out to the underserved populations where access to health information tends to be difficult). It was at the health fair that I finally saw what it meant for pharmacists to become involved in Pubic Health. We counseled people on nutrition and the imperativeness of daily exercise and wise food choices. It was amazing to see people so receptive to our recommendations- at the same time surprised that pharmacists, instead of nurses or doctors, relayed this information to them. I felt that I had empowered these people to become more proactive in their own life. I finally saw that though pharmacists are working downstream, at the treatment of disease, they can also work upstream at the prevention of disease, to alleviate human suffering at both ends. It’s so refreshing to see how I am now actively involved in a theory that I believed in but seemed so unreachable during undergrad. You know something? I didn’t expect myself to enjoy pharmacy school this much. I love it!