Why doesn’t everyone do this?

Politics have always fascinated me.  Ever since I took government and political science classes in high school, everything about the political process has been fair game for my free time.  Some people get excited when their favorite sports teams are on TV or for large events like the Super Bowl or World Series.  Not me.  I get excited for Election Day. I tuned into many health care reform debates on C-SPAN and regularly follow political tickers on news websites.    I understand that politics is not for everyone, but when it’s so easy for the American public to participate, why doesn’t everyone do it?

For me, spending a day at the Minnesota Capitol is fun, educational, entertaining and free.  I know that I may be a minority when it comes to my enjoyment of legislative issues.  However, I would encourage everybody to give it a shot sometime.  Everyone has some political issue that they’re interested in.  Whether it is a new Viking’s stadium or a new hospital, the legislature deals with a wide variety of issues affecting Minnesotans.   I would challenge everyone who reads this to think about an issue that is important to you and do something involving that issue!  Contact your senator or representative or go and sit in on a hearing or session.  I really don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 

MPhA has really allowed for me to make the connection between being an interested spectator to engaging in the whole process.  I may not be able to convince you that the legislative process is fun, but if you’re on this site, you’re most likely interested in pharmacy.  If you’re interested in pharmacy, you can get involved in pharmacy.  You can do a lot for your state and learn about your profession by joining an organization like MPhA.  Politics may seem irrelevant to some people, but your profession should not.

Another week at the Capitol and more

Dear Readers,

Welcome back to another week’s blog! This past week has given me the opportunity to go back to the Capitol and sit in committee meetings as well as participate in Julie Johnson’s presentation on PBMs to representative Carolyn McElfatrick.  It was really interesting to see what it is like to set up a meeting with a representative and how receptive they are of the issues that are presented to them. Lobbyist Matthew Lemke was also there with us and participated in the presentation by explaining the detailed role and actions of PBMs in the world of pharmacy.

In the middle of the week we also had the chance to attend the eighty-seventh House of Representatives session. During this session we witnessed the Dental plan contract bill being passed. Also, a very passionate dentist that had been audited presented his case and explained what it is like to be audited when he was trying to provide services for an underserved population.

At the end of the week we had the chance to sit in the MPhA Editorial Advisory Meeting, where the committee members discussed the material that will be included in MPhA Spring and Summer magazine issues. This was a very neat experience because I got to experience how many different ideas were collected in a meeting that was just over an hour long. These ideas were also mainly focused on the interest of the readers and on the ability to improve the world of pharmacy. 

I am also looking forward for the next week where I will have the chance to personally meet with some of the legislators and discuss Minnesota pharmacy issues. This will be a completely new experience for me and it will be nice to have this exposure to the legal system.

Until next time… 

Festina

Another week of fun and inspiration!

Dear readers,

Welcome back to the MPhA blog. This week has been filled with activities and events that have undoubtedly enriched me with inspiration to not only practice pharmacy in the near future but also improve the world evolving around it. Although we attended many meetings within the MPhA office in order to talk about different issues that they are working on, including Pharmacy Nights, AWARE campaign, MPhA surveys to improve the association’s outcomes and much more, in this blog I will focus on two main events that affected me the most.

We had a chance to sit in the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee and listen to an important issue being presented (involving improvement of Minnesota children’s mental health hospital settings), discussed, and passed on to improvement and beyond. It was really interesting to see what different walks of life the committee members had come from and what each of them brought to the table. One thing they all had in common was the desire to come up with the best solution to the problem.

Another event I was pleased to attend was The Lawrence and Delores Weaver Medal ceremony.  It was presented to Dr. Donald A. Dee for his support to the college and his students through service to education, the profession, research and the community. This was also a great chance to talk to many professionals who have been practicing and teaching pharmacy for decades.

There is nothing more pleasing to me than to see inspired and passionate people using their energy and efforts to improve the world around them. And that is exactly what this rotation has provided for me.

Festina B.

Visit the MPhA Career Center!

Did you know that MPhA has a Career Center?! 

As Gina mentioned in one of her blogs, MPhA is working to update the website to serve you better.  This week I have spent some time scanning the site and looking for things that we can improve and I stumbled across a wonderful resource – the MPhA Career Center!  The Career Center offers some great options for both job seekers and employers.

Job seekers can search job postings, receive job alerts, and post their resume for potential employers to review.  Employers have numerous options for posting positions, and can access hundreds of resumes from qualified pharmacists. 

Check it out and post your resume.  I know I will!

http://mnpha.associationcareernetwork.com/Common/HomePage.aspx

Understanding the Legislature

Well, it's been two weeks and I think I'm beginning to decipher a little bit of the complex code that is our legislative system.  After getting to see the whole show last week by sitting in on some senate sessions, this week got a little more intimate with some house and senate hearings.  Delving deeper into the process gave me a better understanding of the legislature.    Next week we will go even further and meet with some legislators personally.  This whole experience has been a great way to see the legislative process from a personal standpoint and from the many different points of action that have to happen before a bill becomes law. 

While the legislative side of things has been busy, we have also been exposed to many inner workings of MPhA.  Being able to sit in on meetings with business members, discussing election slating committee issues and meeting with the Ewald Consulting staff (who support MPhA) has been very enlightening.  It paints a picture of the work required both to sustain an organization and to make it beneficial to its members.  

While attending the business meeting, I realized that seeing MPhA work with its business members to keep them in the loop, with respect to what's going on at the Capitol, made some of my experiences over the last two weeks connect.  I gained a tangible sense of MPhA's impact by seeing the work being done at Capitol directly relayed for the benefit of the organization's members.   I look forward to more experiences like this over the next three weeks.

Chad

A Wonderful Week

Dear readers,

My name is Festina Balidemaj and I am a fourth year pharmacy student at the University of Minnesota. Much like the other students who have attended this rotation I will give you a short introduction about myself and my thoughts and expectations form this rotation. I was born and grew up in the city of Prishtina, in Kosovo. I attended my undergraduate studies at Hamline University in Saint Paul, where I studied Psychology and Biology. My interest in pharmacy started after getting a job at a small family-owned pharmacy during the beginning of my college career.

During my years at the College of Pharmacy I was not excessively involved in extracurricular activities with MPhA and thought that having a fourth year rotation that will give me a great introduction into the insight of the Minnesota Pharmacists Association would be a great experience and it would help to direct me on possible future opportunities as a practicing pharmacist.

Thus far into the rotation, it has already been a great experience to get to know our preceptor, Julie Johnson, as well as her role in the Minnesota Pharmacists Association. During the first day at this rotation we also had a chance to take a trip to the Capitol and meet with Matthew Lemke, the MPhA lobbyist. He has been a great representative of the Association and is a very knowledgeable resource for the world of pharmacy.  On the second and third day we had the chance to go to the Saint Paul Capitol again and this time sit in the Senate gallery and listen in on the hearings. It was a great experience to see how the bills are presented and passed, or amendments not adopted, and so on.

In addition, we attended a couple of meetings within the MPhA organization and had the chance to experience how the board members representing MPhA are elected. Thus far, the rotation has been a great experience and I am looking forward to learning much more in the next four weeks.

Exploring our Capitol

Hello and welcome!  My name is Chad Peterson and this is my first foray into the blogging world.  I’m excited to get the opportunity to work with MPhA and have already seen some interesting stuff in the few short days I’ve had with the organization.  First, a little bit about me…

I am in my fourth year of pharmacy school at the University of Minnesota and will be graduating in about 5 weeks!  After I cease being Mr. Peterson and become Dr. Peterson I will be starting a career in hospital pharmacy at Abbott Northwestern as a pharmacy practice resident.   I also received a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Bethel University in 2007.  I enjoy skiing, golfing, reading fiction and listening to music.

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of heading on over to St Paul and meeting with Matthew Lemke, MPhA’s lobbyist.  Matt is an incredible asset to the profession of pharmacy and is our major link to Minnesota policy makers.  After giving us a tour of the marble decked halls of the Capitol and providing us with a crash course refresher in legislative policy making (School House Rock anyone?), we were all set to sit in on some Senate sessions and get our feet wet trying to understand the future of our state.   

“The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.”  This is a quote from Matt and is the quote of the week as far as I’m concerned. The major piece of legislation that we sat in on was the Health and Human Services bill.  After listening to hours of DFL sponsored amendments get shot down by a GOP controlled Senate, it became clear that this bill would be passed regardless of the high likelihood of Governor Dayton exercising his veto power.  I also observed that somewhere amidst the passionate arguing on both sides of the aisle, Senate floor campaign speeches and formal procedure there is a body made up of individuals who care deeply for the future of our state, and that is encouraging.  However, it became incredibly clear to me that some form of compromise will have to occur before anything will get passed by the legislature and signed into law by our Governor.  When and how that will happen is a great question.

While issues relating to pharmacy practice are not at the forefront of any legislative arguments, they are not absent either.  On the pro side, MTM seems to have made an appearance in the current drafts.  On the con side, MERC funding is at risk of being cut by both the legislature and the Governor.  This will leave many educational opportunities for pharmacy practice residents (not to mention other health care professions) struggling to remain economically stable.  

All rhetoric and politics aside, I will leave my first week at MPhA knowing that the interests of the profession of pharmacy are in good hands at the Capitol. 

Chad

Minnesota Pharmacists at APhA

It was a short week at MPhA after spending a long weekend in Seattle, WA for the annual APhA meeting.  The meeting was good and Minnesota was well-represented, with 80 students from the College of Pharmacy and numerous pharmacists from across the state in attendance.   I’d to share with you some of the Minnesota-specific details from the meeting:

-        MPhA’s very own, Julie Johnson received the Gloria Niemeyer Francke Leadership Mentor Award.

-        Steve Simenson, the president of Goodrich Pharmacies, is running for APhA President Elect.  He was also awarded the APPM Distinguished Achievement Award in Community and Ambulatory Practice. 

-        Todd Sorensen, faculty member at the University of MN College of Pharmacy, was awarded the APPM Distinguished Achievement Award in Administrative Practice and was selected as an APhA Fellow by APhA-APPM.

-        Michelle Johnson of Goodrich Pharmacy received the Immunization Champion Award for her role in improving vaccination rates in her community. 

-        Jagannath Muzumdar, graduate student in the University of MN SAPh, program received the Postgraduate Best Paper Award in the Economic, Social & Administrative Sciences.

-        University of Minnesota APhA-ASP chapter was recognized for their work with Project Chance, Generation Rx, and Heartburn Awareness. 

Congratulations to each of you!!!