Pharmacy Time Capsule

19 75

Issues & events that have shaped Iowa pharmacy (or are fun to remember!)

January : Effective January 1, the minimum wage for employees of community pharmacies was $2.10 per hour. Minimum wage rates for hospital employees was $2.00 per hour.

February : A “Mini-Review for Practicing Pharmacists” on essential hypertension appeared in The Journal of the Iowa Pharmacy Association. The two classes of drugs highlighted for essential hypertension included diuretics (HCTZ, quinethazone, chlorthalidone, metolazone, and furosemide) and sympathetic blocking drugs (reserpine, methyldopa, guanethidine, trimethaphan, pentolinium, and clonidine). Later this year, captopril, the first orallyactive ACE inhibitor, was discovered.

May : David W. Rambo, a Decorah-based community pharmacist and owner of Rambo Drug, was the recipient of the Bowl of Hygeia award for outstanding community service.

June : The University of Iowa College of Pharmacy implemented a new curriculum. The revisions provided students with the necessary background upon which to build clinical pharmacy work which was placed primarily in the 4th year. Enrollment at the College of Pharmacy was 403 students this year.

July : A survey conducted by George R. Parker of Drake University, titled “Consumers’ Views of Pharmacy,” found 57.4% of Des Moines residents surveyed thought pharmacists knew more about drugs and medications than doctors, compared to only 40.1% who thought doctors knew more.

August : Six new members and one holdover were appointed by Governor Robert D. Ray to the restructured sevenmember Iowa Board of Pharmacy Examiners. The board members included Max Eggleston, Venetta Fiedler, Dennis Killion, Susan Lutz, Robert Osterhaus, and Angelo Palmer.

IPA appointed Dr. Joe Norwood to represent the association for the Health Manpower Plan. This project was a funded study to identify manpower shortages in Iowa, prioritize these shortages, and make recommendations to resolve them for medicine, dentistry, podiatry, optometry, pharmacy, nursing and veterinary medicine.

Septe mber : The commissioner of the FDA, Alexander M. Schmidt, praised IPA for its participation in the Food and Drug Administration’s Drug Defect Reporting Program. He was quoted stating, “Please accept my sincere appreciation for your support of this important program, and we look forward to a continuing cooperative relationship with you in the future.”

October : John Ballensky, R.Ph., was appointed by Governor Robert D. Ray to a three-year term on the Iowa State Board of Health. His appointment to the board ended a long, sustained effort by IPA with the Governor and Commissioner of Public Health to have a pharmacist named to the board.

IPhA officers at the 1975 IPhA Convention. Left to right: Treasurer Jack Bare; Vice President Rollin Bridge; Past President Leonard Wicks; President William Deets, and President-Elect Darwyn Williams.

Max W. Eggleston, R.Ph., center, owner of Stauffer Pharmacy, Waverly, is presented Marion Laboratories’ “Service to Pharmacy Award”.