Jimmy Mitchell Addresses the APhA Board

One of the very great things about this job is that I get to interact with really wonderful people.

This weekend our Board of Trustees had the privilege to spend time with our Honorary President, Jimmy Mitchell, Director of the Health Resources Services Administration Office of Pharmacy Affairs. In his well-known Mississippi accent, he briefed us on his vision and lifetime of service to the medically underserved.

What was remarkable about the presentation was the obvious affinity and devotion he brings to his work, which in simple terms is to ensure that the medically underserved get the best possible pharmacy services available in America. At one point in his presentation the Board and staff gave him a standing ovation in recognition of his lifetime of leadership. We all have a lot to learn from him, and we will continue to draw from his wisdom long after he completes his term as our Honorary President.

Thanks to Pharmacist Mitchell’s work, thousands of pharmacies now have relationships with community health centers to meet the needs of this population. We’re grateful to him for that.

The US Department of State’s Emergency Plan for AIDS recently contacted APhA about its need for French-speaking pharmacists in Haiti. Help was needed in managing French-labeled antiretroviral medications in Port-au-Prince.

A facility where medications were stored withstood the January 12 earthquake. It has been repurposed to serve as a medication-distribution point for earthquake-relief efforts. The medications are being distributed through the existing structure for serving AIDS clinics.

The public is flocking to those clinics for help since they know medical care is available there. Staff members in the clinics are working to arrange food and shelter for volunteers, possibly in tent cities with other medical personnel.

What is amazing is that thanks to earlier pleas, we were able to pull from our database of hundreds of pharmacists who volunteered a list of 19 French- and Creole-speaking pharmacists ready to go to Haiti for stints of 2 weeks or longer. For updates on pharmacists’ involvement in Haiti, see the homepage of www.pharmacist.com.

Thanks for stepping up. Your profession is proud of you!

We lost Carl Emswiller on December 10. A 1999 Remington Honor Medal recipient and APhA Foundation Board member, Carl spent his life caring for patients in pioneering ways.  He began his practice in Berryville, VA, in 1962 by joining Eugene White, the innovator of the office-based practice.

Six years later, Carl opened his own pharmacy in nearby Leesburg and created his own pioneering services, including blood pressure monitoring, physician collaboration, medication profiles, and a private consultation room. Those things may seem common today, but they would not be but for the efforts of pharmacists such as Carl and the many students he influenced as an associate clinical instructor at the Medical College of Virginia.

I visited Carl and his wife Jewell a few days before he died. He was still interested in how we were doing as an organization. In lieu of flowers, the family has established the Carl F. Emswiller Memorial Fund with the APhA Foundation. It’s people like Jewell and Carl who inspire me every day. I will be grateful for having known Carl, truly one of the good guys in our profession.

This morning, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited 2215 Constitution and the connected 2200 C Street facility. Her purpose was to formally welcome her 900 Department of State staff to their hew home in our building.

Secretary Clinton was very gracious in acknowledging APhA as a good partner, and in particular mentioned the work of APhA’s own Ann Dubas, VP Property and Management, and Roger Browning, CFO. Both of these folks spent countless hours over the last few years to get us to the goal line with the State Department as a co-inhabitant of our building. Her accolades for our staff were well deserved and appreciated.

As I shared with the Secretary, she is always welcome at APhA, and we hope she will not be a stranger!

Bill Ellis just pointed out, and I agree with him, that there’s a real feeling of excitement in the air here at APhA headquarters.

Tomorrow, we’re hosting our building dedication ceremony. Folks here are sprucing up, and the caterers are loading in. Tropical Storm Ida can’t hold us down. Soon, we’ll have more than 400 remarkable supporters who helped us build the vision that John Gans and dozens of board members and leaders have had for almost 20 years. I’ll write more about the event after tomorrow, but right after the Dedication we move into a board meeting, so it may be a few days before I get to it. I’m sure there will be photos on pharmacist.com.

Thanks to Dr. Gans, all the staff, and our volunteer leaders for their hard work and dedication, and for putting up with all the detail-oriented people who had to make hard decisons about sometimes seemingly trivial things. When you stand back, and look at the entire picture, it is clear to me that sweating all the details was worth it. It’s time to stop for a day and celebrate!

I talk with other executives around town, and they all agree that this time of year is more intense than any other. I thought it would be fun to just share a glimpse at my last 30 days working on your behalf.

During this time, I’ve visited four school of pharmacy campuses, one state association meeting, two federal facilities, five senators’ offices, Institute of Medicine, the annual meeting of the Pharmacy Compounding Centers of America, 8 pharmacies, CMS to meet with the number 2 person there, the Joint Forces Pharmacy Seminar, several APhA client meetings, the NCPA meeting, the new Trustee orientation for those joining the board in March, and a West Virginia University football game against the University of Connecticut (well, maybe that one wasn’t on your behalf, but it was remarkable for the sportsmanship since it occurred just after UCONN lost one of its players to unnecessary violence).

I also participated in the Pharmacy Compounding Accrediation Board meeting, the Joint Council of Pharmacy Practitioners meeting, and an APhA Foundation board meeting. This weekend, I’ll finish it off with a Midyear Regional Meeting in New Brunswick, NJ.

Along the way, I figured out how to use Windows Live and webcams so I can help with my 14-year-old nephew’s homework face to face while I’m on the road.

Despite the hectic pace, I am more thankful than ever for the opportunity to serve this organization and its members. Thanks to all of you who shared your thoughts with me this month. I took a lot of notes.

APhA does a lot of things, including building coalitions, getting volunteers involved, and convening meetings under the big tent that is APhA. That’s all good, but a lot of our members, and frankly lots of pharmacists who aren’t members, don’t have time to get involved. For them, we need to get better at “convening” in a virtual sense, either on Facebook, this blog, or other channels that fit your needs at any particular moment.

So, this blog should not only inform, but also stimulate you and others to share thoughts, suggestions, observations, complaints or whatever. And, this should serve as a forum where any pharmacist can come and be heard.  There are lots of our members who are experts at things you would like to know more about, or who share your passion for a particular area of practice, industry or education. Maybe you are entrepreneurial and looking for ideas or someone who shares your interests. Connecting the knowledge with the question is what social media is supposed to facilitate — and what I’m trying to achieve here.

We have more than 2,000 people, most of them likely pharmacists, who follow this blog now. So, dive in and share your thoughts. Let’s see where it takes us!