At this year’s Canadian Pharmacists Conference, Suzanne Singh and Tejal Patel were both awarded Patient Care Achievement Awards. Congratulations to Suzanne and Tejal for their important achievements! Suzanne Singh Honoured with the CPhA Patient Care Achievement Award for Innovation, Suzanne Singh is a pharmacist at the Mount Sinai Academic Family Health Team. The Brown-Bag Medication Check-Up Program, which Suzanne launched in July 2015, helps to ensure medication safety. The program focuses on ambulatory–care sensitive conditions, such as diabetes, heart failure, angina, hypertension, asthma and COPD. It is flexible and can be adapted to suit the varying needs of different pharmacies. Suzanne’s program has shifted the landscape of pharmacy practice in the future. She has advanced innovative practice by creating a collaborative practice model. With this dynamic, team-based model, she has been able to change the lives of both her patients and their caregivers. Suzanne has helped to build a clear role for FHT pharmacists. She explains, “This has allowed me to optimize my professional scope of practice and push the limits of what an effective model of interprofessional care could look like.” With the goal of improving patients’ outcomes along with their access to health services, Suzanne recognizes that patients can be their own best advocates for proper medication use. The Brown-Bag Medication Check-Up Program was also awarded a 2015 AFHTO Bright Light Award. Tejal Patel Awarded the CPhA Patient Care Achievement Award for Specialty Practice, Tejal Patel is pharmacist at the Center for Family Medicine Family Health Team. Tejal was honoured for her work with the Memory Clinic, which she joined in 2009, at the Centre for Family Medicine Family Health Team (CFFM FHT). Providing care to those with cognitive impairment, the clinic benefitted greatly from her skillful work—reviewing medications, assessing patient and caregiver capabilities, determining drug-related problems and performing cognitive testing. In particular, she has helped many Alzheimer’s patients stay in their own homes longer. The success of her work with the Memory Clinic is having a profound effect on pharmacists across the province. Tehal has trained many other pharmacists by sharing her knowledge and expertise, noting, “It is imperative that we continue to train the next generation of pharmacists to provide meaningful care.” Her hard-work and invaluable contributions to a vulnerable population have helped Tejal to develop a deep appreciation of the preciousness of life. The Memory Clinic program has been recognized with a 2012 AFHTO Bright Lights Award and a 2014 Minister’s Medal.
