{"id":656,"date":"2018-03-12T16:12:24","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T16:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/?p=656"},"modified":"2018-05-09T17:52:29","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T17:52:29","slug":"celebrating-charm-of-a-million-hearts-in-charm-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pharmacy.umaryland.edu\/insidesop\/2018\/03\/12\/celebrating-charm-of-a-million-hearts-in-charm-city\/","title":{"rendered":"CELEBRATING CHARM OF A MILLION HEARTS IN CHARM CITY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written By:<\/strong> Teny Joseph, Third-Year Student Pharmacist<\/p>\n

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February was American Heart Month. To help raise awareness about the prevalence and impact of cardiovascular diseases across our campus and in our community, the School of Pharmacy\u2019s American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists\u2019 (APhA-ASP) Operation Heart<\/strong><\/a> committee continued its long-standing tradition of celebrating American Heart Month and the national Million Hearts Initiative by hosting a number of community outreach and student welfare events throughout the month. The Million Hearts Initiative focuses on the ABCs of heart disease and stroke prevention \u2013 including, a<\/strong>ppropriate aspirin therapy, b<\/strong>lood pressure control, c<\/strong>holesterol management, and s<\/strong>moking cessation — in order to prevent one million heart attacks and stroke-related incidents within a five-year time period. On Feb. 24, Operation Heart celebrated the culmination of its month-long series of Million Hearts themed events by organizing the Charm of a Million Hearts Health Fair at Lexington Market.<\/p>\n

Continuing a Tradition of Community Service<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because we received such positive and encouraging feedback from last year\u2019s Charm of a Million Hearts Health Fair, we wanted to continue improving and building upon our success with this year\u2019s event. The community members, Lexington Market staff and administrators, community vendors, and student representatives who were involved in last year\u2019s health fair shared how much they appreciated having the opportunity to participate in the event, as well as the impact and value that it had on them and their community. Last year, we invited 25 student organizations from across the University and community vendors to provide various patient care resources and health screening services. We served approximately 250 patients and provided 25 blood pressure screenings, 40 oral health\/cancer screenings, and eight HIV\/Hepatitis C screenings. The response and feedback that we received motivated our committee members to host the health fair again this year and envision new ways that it could have an even larger and more meaningful impact.<\/p>\n

Broadening Our Outreach <\/strong><\/p>\n

Through reaching out to the Baltimore City Health Department, we were able to advertise and invite numerous local community organizations and vendors to participate in this year\u2019s event. Our committee members also reached out to their peers in other student organizations throughout the University to ask if they would like to participate in our interprofessional community health fair.<\/p>\n

As a result of these outreach efforts, this year\u2019s Charm of a Million Heart Health Fair featured screenings and patient education provided by nearly 40 organizations, including 21 student organizations from the School of Pharmacy; interprofessional support from the Schools of Nursing, Dentistry, Medicine, and Social Work; as well as community vendors such as JACQUES Initiative, the PATIENTS program, Giant Food, Baltimore City Fire Department, and Community Risk Reduction Services — just to name a few. The health fair featured screenings for blood pressure, HIV\/Hepatitis C, body mass index, sleep apnea, and diabetes risk, as well as naloxone training and certification, immunization services, CPR-chest compression training, and a separate exercise and educational section just for kids.<\/p>\n

Making an Impact in the Community<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the help of all of the student volunteers and community vendors involved, we surpassed our outreach and engagement goals for this year\u2019s event. By the end of this year\u2019s Charm of a Million Hearts Health Fair, we had:<\/p>\n