arent's Day
has become an annual event at the Harrison School of Pharmacy. Once a
year, HSOP pharmacy students get to show off a little of their pharmacy
skills for their family members, which always turns out to be
informative and a bit of fun as well. Parent's Day was held on Saturday,
April 5th, 2003 in the Walker Building. As usual, this pharmacy "Day"
conveniently coincided with the Auburn's "A" Day football game,
therefore all Parent's Day activities were scheduled for the morning
hours.
After a continental breakfast served in the lobby, the students were
ready to proceed with a number of medical assessments and dole out some
valuable information to their parents/patients. This year, students and
faculty set up stations in various areas of the building for taking
blood pressures, blood glucose assessment, body fat analysis, and a
review of the patients' "Brown Bag" medications.
In addition, various informative tours were being conducted
throughout the building and elsewhere. For instance, family members got
to tour a Manufacturing Lab where they could see tablets being produced
from presses similar to ones in the pharmaceutical industry. They also
got to tour a Research Laboratory where faculty demonstrated some
"cutting edge" research projects. Visitors also got to tour the AU
Pharmaceutical Care Center, an actual patient care center operated by
the Harrison School of Pharmacy. Then they were escorted by a tour guide
across the street to the AU Student Health Pharmacy which has a state-of
the-art robotic dispensing machine designed by HSOP pharmacy faculty
members. The dispensing machine has proven to cut down on medication
errors which save lives. It is a model for pharmacies today and in the
future.
Two theatre presentations were also held in the School's auditoriums.
HSOP Director of Recruiting, Charlie Perry, and Head of the Department
of Pharmacy Practice, Dr. Bob Smith, presented information about the
wide scope of career choices in pharmacy. Dr. Mike Reinke of the
Department of Pharmacy Practice presented a topical subject-one on
everyone's minds these days-Bioweapons.
In addition, student members of the pharmacy fraternities manned
tables in the lobby selling imprinted pharmacy items to raise money for
their community projects. Dr. Normal Doorenbos of Pharmacal Sciences
presented a poster in the lobby on Natural Herbal Medications. He had
examples of many herbals on hand. Students Katrina Lanza and Josh
Chestnutt provided some fun for everyone by dressing up as clowns and
passing out colorful balloons made into animal shapes. This was an
especially big hit with the children attending. Dean Evans was excited
to be able to show our visitors the plans for the renovation of the
School, planned to start this summer. Large scale drawings were set up
on display in the lobby. And of course, the officers and members of the
student pharmacy organizations kept everything moving along smoothly.
All who helped make Parent's Day a success this year deserve a lot of
credit for their hard work.
The morning wound up with a tasty barbecue lunch and all the
trimmings, which, from all appearances, was just the right pre-"A" Day
game formula.