The NBPA honoured Fredericton pharmacist Stephanie Feero with the Scott Knowles Memorial New Practitioner Service Award on Sunday night during its virtual Annual General Meeting and NB Pharmacy Awards. This award is presented to a new pharmacist (five years or less since graduation) for exceptional service through innovation or contributions to his/her community.
“Stephanie is an exceptional new pharmacy graduate who jumped into managing a community pharmacy in a rural area amid a global pandemic,” said Christine Boudreau, President of the NBPA. “She is making a huge impact on the lives of her patients by helping to organize vaccine clinics, using technology to provide virtual care and embracing her full scope of practice whether it be prescribing for minor ailments or monitoring diabetes patients.”
Stephanie jumped into her career in the middle of a global pandemic and is already making a tremendous impact in the lives of her patients and in our profession.
Stephanie took on the role of pharmacy manager in a relatively new pharmacy retail setting in the growing community of Hanwell. She recognizes the important role that pharmacists have as health care providers in rural communities. On a daily basis, she strives to improve patient care by prescribing for minor ailments, prescribing and administering vaccines and making over the counter recommendations.
Using technology to expand her reach, Stephanie conducts virtual visits with patients - assessing, consulting, monitoring and managing patients in the comfort of their own homes. She works closely with diabetic patients - monitoring results, recommending therapy adjustments, training patients and identifying ways for improved care. In October, Stephanie was instrumental in organizing large scale flu shot vaccination clinics at her local community centre, including a successful drive-thru clinic. Stephanie also volunteers with Dalhousie University to help train others to administer injections. In addition to her work administering COVID vaccines, her work training new immunizers is vital to New Brunswick’s continued mass vaccination efforts.
Pharmacists from across the province took a short break from vaccinating New Brunswickers against COVID to attend the NBPA virtual AGM and Pharmacy Awards year. The meeting served as a much-needed break to celebrate the remarkable work done by not only the award winners but all pharmacy professionals over the past several months. New Brunswick has led Canada in terms of how early and to what extent pharmacy became involved in the province’s COVID vaccination program. Of the 233 community pharmacies in New Brunswick, 218 have participated in the COVID vaccination program. As of June 6, New Brunswick pharmacy teams have administered 233,000 COVID vaccines – that’s about 45 per cent of all the COVID vaccines administered in the province.
“Since the world turned upside down in March 2020, pharmacists, like other healthcare professionals, have faced long, stressful days that left them bone-tired as they returned home to their families in a time of uncertainty and fear,” said Boudreau. “The road ahead is still long but there’s now a glimmer of light. That light is due in part to New Brunswick pharmacy professionals who are continuing to rise to the challenge of this pandemic.”
Sunday’s meeting was the last for Ms. Boudreau in her role as President. She welcomed Moncton pharmacist Andrew Drover as the new President of the NBPA. Mr. Drover has served on the NBPA board for the past seven years, most recently as Vice President.
The New Brunswick Pharmacists’ Association is the voice of pharmacists in the province and is committed to providing leadership for the profession and improving the health of New Brunswickers.