11/18/19
I talk about advocacy for the profession of pharmacy and the patients that we serve all the time, but recently my eyes were open to a new perspective on advocacy through my faith as a Christian. At church this Sunday, we were talking about a passage in Proverbs 31:8-9 that reads, “Speak up for the people who have no voice, defend the rights of them all, ensure justice.”
This passage struck me as God’s calling for all Christians to serve as advocates for those who need help. As a future pharmacist, this is my patients, those who did not go to school for 8 years and receive a doctorate degree about the intricacy of how their medications and disease states work. My patients may not have a voice to advocate for themselves, because they don’t know what they should be fighting for. As a health care professional and as a Christian, God calls me to speak up on their behalf, fight for their rights and be sure they receive the best care possible.
Advocacy can be accomplished in so many ways, it doesn’t have to entail storming the capitol in white coats, or flying all the way to D.C. to speak with elected officials, though that is super fun and I would definitely recommend it.
Advocacy for patients can be done from behind the pharmacy counter, and is a huge reason that I chose pharmacy as my career to begin with. When I started as a pharmacy technician at 18 years old, I worked under two pharmacists who made differences in patients lives every day, Jordan Goetzke and Bethany Bedford. Whether that was to lean across the counter to hug a patient who visits the pharmacy every day just to chat, taking the time to call insurance providers and spend 45 minutes fighting for coverage of an expensive new treatment, or call the doctor who just sent in an antibiotic that has a deadly interaction with the current medications the patient was taking, these two are the reason I pursued a future in pharmacy. I quickly learned that pharmacists were more than just pill pushers, in fact they spent the majority of the day counseling scared and sick patients and being sure they were confident in the care they were receiving.
They also taught every technician and intern working with them, I learned everything I know because of them. They encouraged me as I completed my undergraduate courses, wrote recommendation letters for my pharmacy school applications, and celebrated with me when I got accepted. They were working to build the future of the profession (and still do today), and advocated for every student pursuing a future in pharmacy.
As a Christian, watching these two pharmacists take time away from the fast paced store with number-based metrics that determined their success and monetary compensation to comfort crying patients, and even offer up prayers for them, made it clear that this is where advocating for patients and faith intersected.
I am so thankful for a profession that allows me to fulfill the calling God gives His followers to advocate for those with no voice, and for larger than life examples of how a pharmacist can make a difference.
