President’s Page

PS: Professional Solidarity

Connie Connolly, RPh, BCACP |

With my presidency extended by three months during this unique period, I am privileged to present a bonus editorial, so here is my “PS.”

An event occurred of late that was noteworthy for our profession, even amidst the remarkable time in which we are living. It was an unprecedented statement of solidarity by fourteen national pharmacy organizations. I was heartened to see that we have finally found a topic that we can issue a joint statement on, and I am hopeful that it will allow us to find more common ground on which we can work together. The issue is of utmost importance – Advocating against racism.

What can we do to eliminate discrimination and injustice to improve our patients’ care? Many of us are paralyzed when we witness overt racism, wondering what it is we can do…or we are blind to the more subtle forms of racism and, therefore, do not feel comfortable or motivated to insert ourselves to affect change?

Recently, I have discovered a program called “21-Day Racial Equity Habit Challenge.” This program presents many different perspectives of racial disparity and allows for dialogue with others. The subtitles include: Watch, Read, Notice, Listen, Play, Act, and Reflect. The modules are outstanding, but the comments and blogging that follow the sections are even more educational. I am working my way through the program slowly, trying to digest and learn from each module by taking up to a week to review and reflect on the content of the day.

Yesterday, I watched Day 8 of the series. It was a ‘Watch’ day entitled, “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man.” It was the first video of a series being led by former NFL player Emmanuel Acho. I have now watched all of the videos made and have found them to resonate with me. It is a forum where IPA President people can ask their questions about racism in a safe space. Many of the questions you may already have are being asked in the video, and the conversation is honest, open, respectful, and ultimately illuminating. The perspectives offered are instrumental to furthering healing and to constructing a social framework with equality as a cornerstone.

As pharmacists, we have pledged in our pharmacists’ oath to “consider the welfare of humanity and the relief of suffering my primary concerns.” Racism is suffering on a base level, and anything we do to eliminate it will ultimately help relieve that suffering. Educating ourselves on cultural differences also helps us provide better care. This is an easy statement to get behind, but we need to ask ourselves, what have we done, as an individual and profession, to really listen to our patients to understand their perspectives?

I plan to continue through the series and locate other avenues to further conversations to learn more about how to advocate for all my patients. I also plan on bringing these programs to the attention of IPA staff so that we may integrate some of the principles and present educational programming on this topic to help us all reach a better understanding of each other. I ask all of you to consider doing the same.

I encourage each of you to take the time to educate yourselves and reflect during this time of turbulence. There are many conversations happening – find one, listen, contribute, learn, and share. This is just another way as pharmacists we can show that we CARE. ■