A team of Butler pharmacy students will receive the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) 2012-2013 Student Community Engaged Service Award, recognizing their work in a free medical clinic/pharmacy serving low-income residents of a northeast Indianapolis neighborhood.
Butler student volunteers operate the Butler University Community Outreach Pharmacy (BUCOP) as part of a free weekly clinic set up in Neighborhood Fellowship Church, 3102 E. 10th St. They collaborate with the Indiana University Student Outreach Clinic (IUSOC), which provides on-site services in medicine, law, social work, dentistry, and physical therapy to patients unable or ineligible to receive healthcare through other programs.
BUCOP has grown significantly since its start in 2009. Then, the pharmacy filled an average of eight prescriptions for 11 patients a week during its first month. In the first half of 2012, it filled 1,750 prescriptions and served 5,750 patients. BUCOP volunteers have also coordinated smoking cessation programs for patients and promoted healthy lifestyle changes.
The program is intended to encourage pharmacy students and faculty to design and build programs of community engagement and service learning, deliver consumer education about medication use, expand access to affordable medications, and improve public health.
“In BUCOP, our students develop their interprofessional skills by communicating with and working directly with medical students and physicians, answering their drug information questions, and making therapeutic recommendations,” said faculty adviser Kristal Williams, assistant professor of pharmacy practice.
BUCOP is one of four student-led programs to receive this year’s AACP award. Others included include the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Midwestern University/Downers Grove, and the University of Houston.
Williams and team representative Meagan Doolin will accept the award at the ACCP’s national conference in July, plus $10,000 for the College of Pharmacy and Health Science and $5,000 for BUCOP. Both stipends are to be used for expanding and sustaining service engagement projects.
Doolin said BUCOP has provided a great learning experience. “At the end of the day when you see how grateful the patients are, it’s just an awesome feeling,” she said. “I realize why the founding board members were so invested in it.”
A new six-member student executive board has directed BUCOP each year since it opened, leading as many as 50 student volunteers at a time.
“The executive board members have poured their heart into the labor of strategic planning, grant writing, procurement of resources, establishing community partnerships, and the provision of patient care,” Williams said. [See list of executive boards below.]
The clinic sets precedence for future student-run clinics in Indiana, Williams said.
It gives to this underserved community of Indianapolis—who once probably thought, “Does anyone care?’—empowerment, respect, and love,” she said. “I look forward to the continued unveiling of the positive impact this project makes on this community.”
BUCOP Student Executive Boards
2009-2010
Chair Eliza Dy; Vice Chair Tyler Trueg; Development and Promotions Kalin Clifford; Resources and Records Katrina Coffey; Volunteer Opportunities Annie Webster.
2010-2011
Board Chair Justin Koch; Vice Chair Laura Beeson; Promotions Mike DeMarco; Finance Jen Macke; Resources and Records Michael Brockman; Volunteer Opportunities Kristina Niehoff.
2011-2012
Chair David Martin; Vice Chair Colleen Linsenmayer; Promotions: Shefali Patel; Finance Nicole Pallme; Resources and Records Aalap Modi; Volunteer Opportunities Meagan Doolin.
2012-2013
Chair Andrew Gonzales; Vice Chair Meagan Doolin; Promotions Amanda Shake; Finance Kyle Frantz; Resources and Records Troy Gulden; Volunteer Opportunities Kelly Kyrouac; Media Arts Consultant Stephen Small.
2013-2014
Chair Ryan Medas; Vice Chair, BUCOP East, Eileen Carroll; Vice Chair, BUCOP West, Amanda Shake; Promotions Stephen Small; Finance Gintas Kuseliauskas; Resources and Records; Stevan Tomich; Volunteer Opportunities Kim Kraska.
Special thanks to Dr. Javier Sevilla, clinic medical director; Pastor Jim Strietelmeier, Neighborhood Fellowship Church; Drs. Lalita Prasad and Mary Day, former BUCOP pharmacy resident preceptors; Dr. Bonnie Brown, associate dean of student affairs and volunteering pharmacist at BUCOP; Truvillie Myers and Lora Dorton-Cheney, IUSOC/BUCOP consumers.
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Four COPHS students won another recent national honor for producing a video about prescription drug abuse.
