The award is presented to a member of the College who has demonstrated outstanding professional excellence in the practice of pharmacy. Kathy has been a pharmacist with the Tertiary Palliative Care unit of the Grey Nuns Community Hospital for the past 8 years.Prior to joining the unit she spent 8 years working in a number of other acute care units at the Grey Nuns.
The selection committee was particularly impressed by Kathy's efforts to help other health professionals understand the difficulty some palliative care patients have with certain treatments. In one such initiative Kathy arranged an opportunity for her fellow health care providers to taste a few of the common medications given to patients on their unit. Exposing the staff to the unpleasant tastes made physicians and nurses alike adjust their attitude towards the entire process of administering medications. Initiatives like this lie at the heart of Kathy's philosophy of care. "I want to do as much as possible to ensure that patients enjoy the best possible quality of life regardless of which unit they are on and what their prognosis is."
According to a college representative, "Kathy is very much a part of the treatment process. She helps patients manage their treatment while helping doctors and other pharmacists understand patient issues with the treatments... She is known for her expertise and her willingness to share her knowledge and skills. Her colleagues say she represents the best that the pharmacy profession has to offer." When asked her response to this honour Kathy simply smiled and said "I am just representing the entire pharmacy team at the Grey Nuns. I accepted this award as recognition of the work all of the staff pharmacists and pharmacy technicians do together. There is nothing I am doing that is really extraordinary; it is what we can accomplish as a team that is special.
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