March is Pharmacy Appreciation Month!

There are more than 6,500 pharmacists in British Columbia serving the public in all corners of the province. The vast majority of these pharmacists work in one of more than 1,400 community pharmacies, offering the public accessible health-care services when and where they need it. 

In 2024, B.C.'s community pharmacists offer more services than ever before. From offering minor ailments and contraception assessment and prescribing services, administering vaccines, distributing COVID-19 test kits to dispensing medications, if you have a health need, there's a good chance your pharmacist has a solution. 

To show some of this work in numbers, between June 1 and Dec. 31, 2023, pharmacists provided more than 229,000 assessments for minor ailments or contraceptives. That's on top of dispensing 97 million prescriptions and administering 2.9 million COVID and flu vaccines in the past year!

Here are just a few examples of pharmacists serving the public in a community near you. Read their stories and learn why they are proud to be a part of this profession:

• Ruby Maw, Hogarth's Clinic Pharmacy, Vernon 
• Curtis Fieseler, Pharmasave Highway 97/Ellis, Kelowna
• Frankey He, Rexall #7139, Victoria
• Ahmad Ghahary, Community Apothecary, Burnaby

Pharmacy Appreciation Month is a chance to show off your pharmacy team to the public! Have a great team photo that you'd like to share? Send it in to communications@bcpharmacy.ca for a chance to be featured in our social media posts and member emails in March!

Nomination packages are filled out online

IMPORTANT: Please complete the online nomination process, or download and print a package, and submit completed packages to awards@bcpharmacy.ca.

A single nomination package for the awards will qualify the nominee for seven different awards. The awards this year are:

• Excellence in Patient Care Award: This award is presented to a pharmacist who has demonstrated ongoing excellence in patient care in their professional practice.
• Ben Gant Innovative Practice Award: This award is presented to a pharmacist who has demonstrated significant innovation in their respective practice and/or the profession.
• Murray Dykeman Mentorship Award: This award recognizes a pharmacist who has demonstrated outstanding mentorship to those early in their pharmacy career.
• Pharmacy Leadership Award: This award recognizes a pharmacist who has demonstrated commitment to leading the profession and its people forward and has made significant contributions to the profession of pharmacy. 
• Collaborative Care Award: This award recognizes a pharmacist who has worked to create strong collaboration with other health-care providers. In doing so, they have promoted the value of pharmacists and have successfully advocated for the role of pharmacists in the primary health-care team.
• New Practitioner Award: This award recognizes a pharmacist within their first five years of practice. The nominee has demonstrated impact and commitment to the pharmacy profession by advancing their practice.
• Bowl of Hygeia Award: A pharmacist with an outstanding record of public and community service.

MLAs make up the body of decision makers in the province, and their choices often directly impact the profession of pharmacy in British Columbia. Pharmacy Appreciation Month is an opportunity to engage our provincial decision makers on matters important to pharmacy. 

The program was a tremendous success last year. As part of our service to you as a member of the Association, we work to coordinate visits with the MLA's office and their local pharmacy to schedule times convenient for members and to help ease workflow. 

This year, our aim is to advocate for further expansion to the pharmacists' scope in B.C. by asking the provincial government to consider enabling pharmacists to assess and prescribe for chronic conditions such as diabetes, COPD, cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other similar conditions.

To express your interest in hosting a tour, please email communications@bcpharmacy.ca.