FERRIS STUDENT RECEIVES PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AWARD

Sarah Lessard, a student from Ferris State University College of Pharmacy, was awarded the Michigan Society of Health-System Pharmacists (MSHP) Professional Practice Award at the MSHP Annual Meeting, Nov. 12, in Lansing, Mich. The award consists of a plaque, a $300 stipend and a one-year paid membership in MSHP.

With this award, MSHP recognizes and honors a deserving pharmacist, or in this case, pharmacy student, for involvement and participation in an innovative pharmacy project that contributes to professional practice.
Lessard is being honored with this award for participation in a project which combined the efforts of pharmacy, nursing and optometry to provide patient-focused care to those with diabetes. Along with students from the colleges of optometry and nursing, Lessard and her colleagues offered medication counseling, eye examinations and nursing care, including foot exams, to patients in a clinic setting. The project resulted in the proposal "The Development of a University-Based, Interdisciplinary Approach to Diabetes Care in a Rural Community Setting," which earned the Secretary's Award for Innovations in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

MSHP is a practice section that consists of approximately 600 of MPA's 3,500 members. Since its founding in 1883, MPA has been a leader in the professional and scientific advancement of pharmacy and in safeguarding the well-being of the individual patient in Michigan.

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