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May 22, 2008
COP praised as model pharmacy care lab by ACPE; receives $50,000 donation from Brookshire’s
The Pharmacy Care Lab, located in the University of Louisiana at Monroe's College of Pharmacy, has had an especially stellar month, hailed as a model in late April by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education and awarded a $50,000 gift from Brookshire’s Grocery Company of Tyler, Texas, during a special presentation Thursday, May 22.
The ACPE accredits all colleges of pharmacy. During a visit to the ÍřĆŘĂĹ COP in late April, representatives were so impressed with the top-notch Pharmacy Care Lab that they deemed it a paradigm to any other institution intending to remodel or rebuild their care labs.
COP Associate Dean Dr. Greg Leader agreed with the assessment. “This lab is one of the best, if not the best in the country. It is so important because it allows our students to practice real-life skills in simulated situations.”
The state-of-the-art pharmacy care lab is equipped with all of the components of a modern pharmacy, including 48 computer work stations, retail, hospital, and clinical pharmacy simulation areas where students learn to deliver the highest quality pharmaceutical care for their patients.
Brookshire’s representatives were on hand to present the generous donation to the COP. A permanent plaque commemorating Brookshire's donation is now displayed in the lab.
College of Pharmacy Dean Dr. Lamar Pritchard, praised Brookshire’s for enhancing the COP facility and its sophisticated technology, ultimately helping the team shape its students into some of the most highly-trained pharmacists in the country. “We are very fortunate to have high-quality partners in the industry, and I must say that the Brookshire’s Grocery Company of Tyler, Texas, is at the top of that list.
“Rather than waiting to bring our students into the senior dispensing lab during their third professional year, students will now be able to use the pharmacy care lab beginning their first day of pharmacy school and every semester of their program. Now, we’re going to take a much more pragmatic approach to the training of our students, simulating the different types of pharmacy settings that they will see when they graduate. We will use this lab to reinforce those concepts that they’re learning in the classroom to help improve the assimilation of this vast knowledge base to then provide optimal pharmaceutical care for their patients.
“The Brookshire’s team members are all integral partners of ours – they not only help us from a financial point of view, but they also help us from a training point of view in the way that they take our students through the experiential program in their stores. We can’t thank them enough.”
Jim Cousineau, vice president of pharmacy operations for Brookshire’s, expressed his respect for the ÍřĆŘĂĹ COP. “Brookshire’s Grocery Company is very honored to have had a long-standing relationship with the University of Louisiana at Monroe. We are continually amazed by the quality of students that ÍřĆŘĂĹ turns out. It has enhanced our company and added so much to our ability to purvey pharmacy to the customers that we have the opportunity to serve.”
“We’re excited about the future prospects of working with ÍřĆŘĂŠ– you do a great job of taking these young people and turning them into quality pharmacists. That’s so very important, not only to us, but to the healthcare of the United States and the ongoing development of healthcare in general.”
After the gift presentation, the Brookshire's team toured the lab and enjoyed lunch in the Bienville Cafeteria.
The Bienville Building is located at 1800 Bienville Dr.
For more information about Louisiana's only state-supported College of Pharmacy, contact Joellen Lee at jlee@ulm.edu or (318) 342-3285.
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