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UHCOP Chapter Earns National Honors for Overall Chapter, OTC Medication Safety and Women's Health Campaigns

May 5 — UHCOP's American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists Chapter experienced one of its most successful years in national award recognition during the APhA 2020 Virtual Meeting April 26-May 1.

The chapter secured a 2nd Runner-up Award in the Division AA Overall Chapter category, the highest in its history. Among the chapter's highlights during the 2018-19 academic year were:

• Providing more than 7,000 direct patient interactions in wellness screenings and education;
• Organizing the first Heart Hustle 5K run/walk event at UH, which raised $2,421 for the American Heart Association and offered wellness screenings, education and child-friendly exercise activities to the nearly 140 event participants;
• Participating in pharmacy and patient care advocacy activities surrounding the 86th Texas Legislature and the Texas Pharmacy Association-sponsored Texas Pharmacy Day at the Capitol, including voter registration drives, writing letters and meeting with legislators, and reviewing Robert's Rules of Order; and   
• Hosting a comprehensive Women's Health Project campaign that incorporated almost all of its other initiatives to educate members and the public on such topics as HPV awareness, cancer and reproductive health through 27 events with an impact of 95,000 patients through these events and social media.

For the Women's Health Project campaign, the chapter was also recognized for a second consecutive time as a "Top 4" project in a separate category for the campaign. Other project activities of the chapter included partnering with the college's Kappa Epsilon organization's Breast Cancer Awareness Silk Rose Jubilee, which featured survivors sharing their stories and the impact pharmacist made in their care; seminars with health care professionals on the importance of well-woman exams, pregnancy complications and treatments, and the use and risks of OTC medications during pregnancy and lactation. 

The chapter also was recognized with a 2nd Runner-up Award in the OTC Medication Safety category, which encompassed about 40 events and activities reaching more than 2,100 adults and schoolchildren. Among the events and activities were:

• The creation of a new interactive game for health fairs and school presentations called “The Magic of Medicine Labels,” which involved participants reading a medication label and trying to match the medication to its corresponding aliment with a "magic wand" that lights up for correct answers to stress the importance of reading labels, identifying uses, matching active ingredients and determining directions for use based on the patient's age; 
• Added content on vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplements for the chapter's annual OTC Workshop and health fair handbook to help students prepare for educational outreach at events;
• Updating presentation materials for the chapter's popular "Candy vs. Medicine" interactive game to teach children how to avoid accidental poisonings; and
• Promoting the Drug Enforcement Administration's annual Drug Take-back Day.