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New & Noteworthy
Kisha Gant Named Pharmacist of the Year
Kisha Gant was named the Louisiana Society of Health-System Pharmacists (LSHP) Health-System Pharmacist of the Year during a virtual ceremony in May 2021. LSHP is a professional organization of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and related personnel that advocate to advance public health by promoting the professional interests of the pharmacy workforce practicing in hospitals and other organized healthcare settings in the State of Louisiana.
The Health-System Pharmacist of the Year award honors one health-system pharmacist for their outstanding performance in Institutional Pharmacy Practice. The criteria for this award includes outstanding cooperation with the entire health care team, outstanding service to the profession of pharmacy, outstanding service to the community, and outstanding contributions to pharmacy programs. The recipient must possess the highest integrity and best exemplify the profession of Health-System Pharmacy.
St. Tammany Parish Libraries Purchase Additional Laptops for Public use and Enhance Digital Collection through American Rescue Plan Act Grant Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center to Expand Services, Enhance Northshore Oncology Associates Partnership
[BATON ROUGE, LA] – Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center’s ‘Prevention on the Go’ program recently celebrated a significant milestone of 100,000 cancer screenings. This achievement, which occurred during the Cancer Center 50th anniversary year, was recognized at a recent free breast and colorectal cancer screening at LSU Mid-City clinic.
Prevention on the Go is a comprehensive program that provides prevention and early detection services to detect cancer in its earliest stage when better outcomes are more likely. Using mobile medical clinics, Prevention on the Go provides services in locations where people live, worship and shop throughout southeastern Louisiana, southwestern Mississippi and beyond. Since the program began in 2002, over 750 cancers have been detected from over 2,500 screening events.
“Everyone involved with Prevention on the Go is excited to celebrate this important milestone of providing 100,000 free cancer screenings for our communities,” says Heather Johnson, director of early detection and education, Mary Bird Perkins. “Our Prevention on the Go team is fortunate to experience the positive impact our program is making in Louisianans healthcare each and every day, but it’s important to remember that our free program is made possible by generous, compassionate donors. We couldn’t do it with them.”
[COVINGTON, LA] - The St. Tammany Parish Library (STPL) recently received a $47,064 grant through the State Library of Louisiana as part of their $3,012,150 disbursement from the American Rescue Plan Act. A portion of the funding — $27,000 — will be used to purchase 35 new laptops to be used for computer classes for the public. The remainder of the funds will be used to purchase e-books to enhance the Library’s digital collection.
“This funding will give us the opportunity to expand services to our patrons, and make an impact on our ability to provide additional digital resources,” said Kelly LaRocca, Director, St. Tammany Parish Library.
The priorities of the grant are to enable the library’s digital inclusion efforts, particularly in support of education, health, and workforce development needs. Another priority of the grant is to support library services that meet the needs of communities including costs such as technology, materials, and equipment. Screening participant Tonya Truehill received the 100,000th screening and has been a participant of the program for more than 10 years. Truehill was recognized at the screening event with a special certificate and gift basket.
“I believe this program is beneficial for people because early detection is so important,” says Truehill. “I make it a point to receive my free breast cancer screening every year because of my family history of the disease. I am extremely grateful to Mary Bird Perkins for offering these free screenings to our community and I know that they are saving lives.”
The Prevention on the Go program also includes a workplace screening component. It is designed to easily integrate with existing wellness initiatives in the corporate setting and is able to fill the gap in cancer prevention by offering cancer specific education and screenings that can help save lives and reduce employer and employee healthcare expenses.
