The American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) presented the National Patient Care Project Award for Operation Heart to the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy.
The award recognizes the Chapter’s exemplary commitment to patient care, education, and community outreach. Typically, these awards are presented at the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition, which was to be held in March 2020 in National Harbor, Maryland. Since the meeting was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the award was presented virtually on April 29th, 2020.
38 events through 11 unique projects
5,470 patients education, blood pressure monitoring, BMI measurements
106,997 people via social media
5 new projects that hosted 19 events
217 student pharmacists involved in events throughout the academic year.
The committee sought to engage the Pittsburgh community beyond campus by targeting patients of all ages. Operation Heart participated in:
- American Heart Association Pittsburgh Heart Walk by creating a team in the walk and fundraising through custom shirt sales.
- Collaboration with Giant Eagle pharmacies and the outpatient pharmacy at UPMC St. Margaret Hospital smoking cessation programs.
- Healthy Heart is the Way to Start project; student pharmacists traveled to local elementary schools to educate students on the importance of an active lifestyle, healthy food choices, and preventative health
- UPMC Heart & Vascular Institute in their Community Outreach and Cardiovascular Health (COACH) program; assisted the interprofessional team in performing blood pressure screenings, cholesterol screenings, and BMI measurements.
- FYI About Your BMI program, Operation Heart administered on campus screenings
- Fundraiser in collaboration with Chipotle for the Peyton Walker Foundation.
PittPharmacy’s chapter also won the APhA-ASP Membership Bonus Goal Award (65-79%). Additionally, at the Region 2 Midyear Regional Meeting the chapter was honored with the Generation Rx 2018-2019 Region 2 Award and OTC Medicine Safety 2018-2019 Region 2 Award .
