Students in the UNMC College of Pharmacy are celebrating American Pharmacists Month by offering immunization flu shots in Omaha and hosting several activities on campus.
The students have organized three immunization flu shot clinics at Baker’s supermarkets in Omaha. Held from 1 to 6 p.m., the flu shots will be administered at the 72nd and Ames location today (Tuesday, Oct. 25); at the Saddle Creek location in midtown on Wednesday, Oct. 26; and at the Deerfield location (136th and Q) on Thursday, Oct. 27. In addition to the flu shots, the students also will provide counseling on cold-prevention strategies, including hand sanitation.
“This is a means for us, as pharmacy students, to give something back to the community,” said Holly Epperly, a third-year College of Pharmacy student and the publicist for the college’s American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists chapter. “It also provides an opportunity for us to explain how pharmacy has expanded its role within the health care delivery system. The pharmacist is a key health professional in helping people achieve the best results from their medications.”
On campus, several activities have been planned for this week. Headlining the festivities is Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy, who will officially proclaim October as American Pharmacists Month during a ceremony on Wednesday in the Durham Research Center auditorium. The APhA-ASP chapter is organizing Wednesday’s event, which will include lunch and dessert. The College of Pharmacy’s Kappa Psi fraternity is providing the dessert.
The APhA-ASP chapter will have a cake reception at noon on Tuesday in the College of Pharmacy Building for faculty, staff and students. The chapter also will participate in the “reverse trick-or-treating” on Monday, Oct. 31, at the UNMC’s hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center. During the activity, students will visit patients in the pediatric unit and The Lied Transplant Center, providing coloring books and toys for children and candy for the transplant patients. The group also will have a booth set up outside of the Nebraska Cafe, where they will distribute information on heartburn awareness to campus employees.
Kappa Epsilon, a national pharmacy fraternity, will distribute pink ribbons and educational materials on breast cancer to students, faculty and staff on Thursday. Oct. 27, from noon to 1 p.m. Those students will disseminate those materials in the College of Pharmacy Building and outside of the Nebraska Cafe.