Celebrating the Role of Pharmacists in Health Care

National Pharmacist Day will be held on January 12. 2019. This day of honor occurs every year as a way to celebrate pharmacists and to recognize the positive impact of the profession’s expanding role in health care.

Since November 1, 2017, Pharmacy Times^® and Specialty Pharmacy Times^® have celebrated the roles of pharmacists with the joint #APharmacistIs campaign. Through this ongoing initiative, pharmacists have shared their perspectives and photos on social media.

#APharmacistIs stories have come from all walks of life, and from across the nation:

#APharmacistIs a research scientist, a business owner, a patient advocate, an educator, and so much more - what does being a pharmacist mean to you? https://t.co/KCt5J3BfkB?rel=0" ?rel=0"

— Indiana Pharmacists (@INPharmacists) September 5, 2018

#APharmacistIs a leader, a team player, an educator, an entrepreneur, a compassionate provider, an IPE champion, a motivator, a dreamer, an engineer who maximizes limited resources, an economist to be cost-effective, vital asset in the healthcare team & a lifelong scholar.📚💊 https://t.co/M4eqcYvYBT?rel=0" ?rel=0"

— Victoria Pho (@victoriapho) August 10, 2018

Awesome work by Ronnie Strickland from @cardinalhealth

Ronnie partnered with @Heart_to_Heart to raise supplies for health care providers, deliver personal hygiene kits, and offer shelter to doctors and nurses in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence! This is what #APharmacistIs. pic.twitter.com/qIz1L5igG7

— Pharmacy Times (@Pharmacy_Times) November 6, 2018

The #APharmacistIs campaign follows previous online campaigns, such as #ThankAPharmacist. For the last 4 years, Pharmacy Times^® has taken this hashtag to social media during the month of October to celebrate American Pharmacists Month, prompting health care providers, patients, and other pharmacists to participate. This year during the #ThankAPharmaicst campaign, we asked our followers to thank their fellow pharmacists, their pharmacy technicians, and the mentors in their pharmacy career. We also launched our first Twitter contest, where our followers had the opportunity to retweet a pharmacist they would like to see thanked.

The pharmacist who received the most support on Twitter during the campaign was Lee Golden, PharmD, Chief Clinical Officer at TwelveStone Health Partners. Dr. Golden was nominated by colleagues at TwelveStone for his commitment to pharmacy, despite falling ill with a mysterious neurological condition that left him paralyzed in 2016. Without a diagnosis, Dr. Golden has made an astounding recovery, has regained his ability to walk and is working toward his goal of one day running marathons again. Dr. Golden explained how his health issues allowed him to become more empathetic toward his patients and their families in an interview conducted in the Pharmacy Times^® studio.

Clips of Dr. Golden's interviews, where he tells us what the #APharmacistIs campaign means to him, will begin appearing on the Pharmacy Times^® site early next week.

Join Dr. Golden by using the #APharmacistIs platform to define the true role of pharmacists and help differentiate between the countless faces that make up the profession. This campaign, much like #NationalPharmacistDay and #ThankAPharmacist, seeks to show other health care professionals and the general public who pharmacists are and how they make a difference every day in the pharmacy and in their personal lives.

On National Pharmacist Day, we encourage you, your co-workers, family members, and friends to share photos of you doing an activity you enjoy or tell us how you are celebrating the day. We also encourage pharmacy students to join in the celebration using the hashtag #PharmacyStudentVoices. Be sure to use #APharmacistIs and tag Pharmacy Times^® and Specialty Pharmacy Times^® on social media.