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Canada's Pandemic Pharmacy Appreciation Month
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- by Melody Suon- by Melody Suon- by Melody Suon CP of CAPSI, CanadaCP of CAPSI, CanadaCP of CAPSI, Canada
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COVID-19 has greatly changed how the Canadian Association of Pharmacy Students and Interns (CAPSI) connects with pharmacy students across Canada. The shift from seeing smiling faces to screen fatigued faces on Zoom has been rather eerie. However, CAPSI representatives were not going to let that put a damper on the Pharmacy Appreciation Month (PAM) festivities.
Every year, the month of March is a busy month across all 10 pharmacy schools in Canada. PAM is typically a month filled with activities such as: lunch and learns, interdisciplinary panels, and general networking opportunities for students. PAM is a month where students celebrate our profession, and educate the public on what pharmacists can do for them.
With the pandemic, all Canadian schools were forced to move to online means for the whole year. This meant that CAPSI representatives had to work hard to create a PAM experience that would engage students and the public - but in a safe virtual setting. A dreary task nonetheless.
Now that we are 2 weeks into PAM, it would be an understatement to say that CAPSI has knocked it out of the park. Despite the online setting, CAPSI representatives have been able to brainstorm a variety of different events to keep the upbeat pace of PAM that one would normally feel from previous years. Events range from activities such as online interdisciplinary panels, virtual group yoga sessions, and virtual trivia nights!
The turnout of CAPSI’ s virtual PAM was challenging, but it taught us some valuable lessons. While living through the COVID-19 pandemic is not easy, it has taught us how to think outside of our comfort zones. With passion for our profession comes a sense of community within our peers - and with this we are unstoppable.
I hope that you are all staying safe, and are staying connected to your peers.
