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Cedarville Magazine
When you think about your pharmacist, what comes to
mind? Perhaps you think of swinging by a neighborhood
CVS for monthly prescriptions or scheduling regular
diabetes checkups. Four professors from Cedarville’s
School of Pharmacy are working hard to change the
pharmacy stereotype. In the following vignettes, they (and
one student) demonstrate how pharmacy can exemplify
Christlike service toward underserved people, whether at
a neighborhood pharmacy or around the world.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
the term “underserved” refers to people with little or no access to
health care services. In regions that don’t have adequate doctors’
offices and specialists, or a Walgreens on every corner, access is
a matter of geography. But access can also be a matter of poverty.
Services and medications may be locally available, but patients
lack the ability to pay for them, or they may lack transportation
to get to the clinic or pharmacy.
Aleda Chen
Cambodia
The mission of Cedarville’s School of Pharmacy is to develop
“exceptional pharmacy practitioners focused on meeting the
physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of patients through
servant leadership.” Though still a young program — the first
class won’t graduate for another two years —Dr. Aleda Chen said
many students are interested in either part- or full-time global
missions, so she and her peers try to find opportunities for them
to engage in a global context while completing their education. She
has led by example, ministering in places as far away as Phnom
Penh, Cambodia, building on strategic relationships Cedarville
staff previously developed there.
On a recent trip to Cambodia, she met with staff at the
Mercy Medical Center (MMC), a mission hospital she hopes will
become a practice site for pharmacy students in their final year.
At MMC, students would work with physicians on evaluating
medical problems and deciding the appropriate medication. Since
medical supplies are often donated, there’s an inconsistent roster
of available medicine. In many cases students will need to think
on their feet if the first choice of medication isn’t available and
choose a viable alternative. This will provide a unique challenge
for students to put into practice all they’ve learned in class the
previous three years.
Chen said as many as 50–75 percent of her students have
expressed interest in spending at least part of their careers with
underserved people, in an urban setting or even a Third World
country. She says while it’s not unusual for pharmacy students
to want to help people — the nature of the work lends itself to
altruism — but Cedarville students are set apart because of the
biblical integration they experience across the curriculum. “We
may have an educational mission similar to secular institutions,
but here, we integrate faith into everything,” said Chen. “It unifies
us and changes our driving force. Our faith puts us on the same
field with a different purpose — to meet the physical, emotional,
and spiritual needs of patients.”
Tracy Frame
Los Angeles, California
Dr. Tracy Frame has noticed that in many underserved
rural and urban areas, patients are unable to obtain the
care they need. “Underserved areas are a very important
part of the health care system and an area where health care
professionals, specifically pharmacists, can be a huge asset
to help improve the care of these patients,” she said. She has
also worked with many of Cedarville’s pharmacy students
providing free diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol screenings
in surrounding counties. From the screenings, they have had to
send numerous patients directly to emergency rooms due to very
high blood pressures or blood sugar. “It is such a joy to see my
students work with these patients and realize they may have helped
decrease the risk of one of these patients having a heart attack or
stroke,” said Frame.
Frame recently took some pharmacy students to develop
relationships for future ministry at the Los Angeles-based Dream
Center, a volunteer-driven organizationmeeting the needs of locals
by providing food trucks, shelter, education, job skills training,
Bible studies, and more. In coming years, she hopes to continue to
take students there over spring break to offer diabetes and blood
pressure screenings and provide health education to the people
of these underserved areas in L.A. Frame believes this not only
allows students to minister effectively but also apply what they’ve
learned in the classroom to real-life scenarios. “Ultimately, I hope
these experiences give students a burning passion for people and
a desire to have a servant’s heart, as Christ calls us to,” she said.
The Pharmacy Is Open
by Nicole (Hanson) Russell ’04
