SYF National Team Challenge / 2014 Creative Interprofessional Team Event Award
LECOM Press Conference
Student Remarks
Ashley Ramp, School of Pharmacy SGA President
May 2014
On behalf of my fellow LECOM students, I’d like to thank the National Consumers League, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and the other sponsors of the Script Your Future Medication Adherence Team Challenge. Their initiative gave us as students the opportunity to participate in an extremely worthwhile program and to educate thousands of individuals on the importance of medication adherence.
Thanks also must be given to a number of LECOM faculty and administrators who made possible our participation and the awards we’re here to announce today: notably, Dr. Silvia Ferretti, LECOM’s Provost, Senior Vice President, and Dean of Academic Affairs; Dr. Hershey Bell, Dean of the LECOM School of Pharmacy; Dr. Robert George, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at our Bradenton campus; along with all faculty members, but especially, Dr. Janene Madras, Dr. Justin Scholl, and Dr. Michael Mueller. We are extremely grateful — your continued support and confidence helped us meet and exceed our goals for this Challenge. It is only because of how generously you gave of your time that we were able to offer meaningful, impactful, and educational events for the general public.
In addition, I also would like to reiterate how grateful I am to the student leaders and other students who gave of their time to make LECOM’s Script Your Future events so successful. Your dedication, and the countless hours you devoted to planning, hosting, and coordinating these events, allowed the LECOM School of Pharmacy to win these very coveted and prestigious awards. In just 28 days, LECOM students contributed more than 900 volunteer hours to Script Your Future events. I think you’ll agree that type of dedication is to be commended.
To the team of LECOM students – Joseph Yeager, Chris Sedgwick, and Robyn Moodt – who wrote the final application on little sleep, and with finals looming, thank you. To Matt Palilonis and Erin Evans, students from the College of Medicine who rallied their fellow students and ensured that communication was constant throughout the month, thank you. To Matt Madurski and Tom Roland, previous LECOM student leaders who helped pave the way for our participation in this year’s Medication Adherence Challenge, thank you. To the reminder of the SGA Executive board, especially Kendra Delibert and Carina Antypas, for dealing with my crazy ideas and sitting through endless meetings, thank you. Lastly, but certainly not least -for all the students who played a part — THIS AWARD IS FOR YOU. BE PROUD.
As a School of Pharmacy, we are very excited to be chosen for these national awards. Our participation in the Challenge, however, wasn’t motivated by a desire to be recognized. For LECOM, the competition has never been, nor will ever be, about the awards. Our participation was in keeping with LECOM’s mission of service to others and building healthier communities. It is a calling we embrace as the next generation of health care professionals. Ensuring a Healthy Life Through Medication Adherence, our theme throughout the Challenge, became a mantra to help the people of Erie and Bradenton better understand the importance of medication adherence.
With 3 out of 4 patients not taking their medications correctly, as students we knew it was imperative to raise awareness, both among the general public and other medical professionals. In February, we hosted 47 service events at which approximately 2,000 patients were counseled by a skilled healthcare professional. And, in conjunction with media outreach, LECOM’s campaign was able to reach approximately 4 million individuals. These numbers are astounding, and they attest to the commitment of LECOM students, faculty, staff, and administrators to bettering our communities.
On behalf of our students and student organizations, I’d like to express our sincere appreciation for this national recognition. I know future LECOM students will continue to build upon our efforts to encourage healthy lifestyles by educating others on medication adherence and other critical health care issues.
Thank you. We’ll be happy to answer questions in one-on-one interviews.