A word from the Chair

The vision of the Pharmacy Awareness Committee is to work within the pharmacy community to promote the profession of pharmacy to the community, students and other health professionals. This sees us promoting the important roles of pharmacists in primary health care, the provision of health information and their involvement in overall long term health care to improve the community’s health status and ultimately quality of life. Pharmacy Awareness is working together to promote the benefits of pharmacy, our services and our future prospects, to the public. It’s integral that we all play a part in promoting our profession as students and well into our future careers. This is to ensure that pharmacy continues to grow into strong profession in the future so that our services are highly regarded and valued within the community, now and for many years to come.

NAPSA works through the Pharmacy Awareness Committee to run promotional campaigns that all NAPSA members can play a part in.

The major campaign of the Pharmacy Awareness Committee is Pharmacy Week. Within this campaign NAPSA members promote of the profession of pharmacy to the public, and to pharmacy students themselves.

This year in 2008, Pharmacy Week will be held at the beginning of May. The campaign will see Pharmacy students from all 12 NAPSA branches through out Australia setting up stands at local shopping centres to promote pharmacy and give general health information to the wider community. This year we will be focusing on Smoking Cessation and the role that pharmacist s can have in helping people to quit.

Also during this time branches will also be holding a pharmacy student based campaign aimed at promoting the various possibilities that a career in pharmacy can offer. Depending on the branch this can be through career fairs, forums, information evenings.

The other roles of the pharmacy awareness committee involve promoting NAPSA’s presence at national pharmaceutical conferences and symposiums as well as involving NAPSA in health awawreness days, such as “The World’s Greatsest Shave for a Cure.”

If you would like to get involved with Pharmacy Week or any other Pharmacy Awareness Committee activities please talk to you Pharmacy Awareness representative, your branch president or the Pharmacy Awareness Committee Chair, Katherine Hancy at k.hancy@napsa.org.au