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IPA Member Spotlight: Kathy Stone, PharmD Written By: Maia Determan 2021 PharmD Candidate | Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
In the southwest corner of Iowa, just 30 miles from Omaha, you’ll find the small city of Missouri Valley. This rural community of less than 3,000 residents is where IPA member Kathy Stone has called home most of her life. At an early age, she developed an interest in pharmacy after watching her grandfather manage multiple medications and health conditions. “In about 5th grade, my grandpa told me that the person who always helped him the most was his pharmacist…this really resonated with me.” Fast forward to today, Kathy supervises the pharmacy department at CHI Missouri Valley, a critical access hospital. Here, she helps many of the same community members she grew up around. After graduating from Creighton University with a Doctorate of Pharmacy in 2004, Kathy began her first job as the Pharmacy Manager at Medicap Pharmacy in Knoxville, Iowa. During this time, she was named to the President’s Club, an honor given to the best of the best in the Medicap Pharmacy network. Kathy excelled in her position at Medicap but when the opportunity presented, she made the transition into hospital pharmacy and back to her hometown of Missouri Valley. In her current role at CHI Missouri Valley, Kathy gets to “do it all.” Working in a critical access hospital means she sees patients at nearly every point in the healthcare system. From the emergency room and inpatient rounding, to chemotherapy infusions and the CHI rural clinics, Kathy is there providing medications and clinical expertise. In addition, she is the primary contact for CHI’s 340B program and chairs both the local P&T committee, and the division’s compounding committee. She also recently became a Board Certified Sterile Compounding Pharmacist, which will come in handy as she transitions to Pharmacy Compliance Manager while continuing all of her current duties as the Supervisor of the Pharmacy in Missouri Valley in a
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| The Journal of the Iowa Pharmacy Association
dual role. This may seem overwhelming, but Kathy says, “The critical access hospital setting is just amazing!” The ability to practice at the top of her license and help people in the community where she grew up makes the job rewarding. Kathy is an active member in the Missouri Valley community, but she did not always plan to stay in the area. During pharmacy school, she was hesitant to practice pharmacy in her hometown because “there was a part of me that didn’t want to take care of the people who were my teachers, coaches and church members…I didn’t want to cross personal boundaries.” When she eventually began working at CHI, she found this was not an issue. “They want to see a friendly face in a small town.” Many people in the community know Kathy as a Sunday school teacher or coach for her kids’ sports teams. As former softball and baseball players, she and her husband have passed down their affinity for the sport to their son (6) and daughter (4). The family also shares a love for bow hunting. Starting October 1st, Kathy has white tail deer on her mind. “Anytime in the fall if I am not working or have somewhere else to be, I will be in a tree somewhere,” she says. It is the perfect sport for their family of early risers. While some shy away from regulatory compliance, Kathy says “that’s my thing.” She has always had an interest in pharmacy law but took a step back a few years ago to focus on starting a family. She says it was the IPA Leadership Pharmacy conference in 2018 that gave her the jump start she needed to start thinking, “What’s next?” It was there that she heard about an opening on the Iowa Board of Pharmacy and was inspired to voice her interest to Governor Reynolds. During her three-year term on the Board, Kathy is determined to keep Iowa pharmacists and pharmacy technicians growing in their role. “I think we’re making
