School of Pharmacy News Archive

Goode, Mayer named Community Champions for APhA Foundation grants

VCU School of Pharmacy teams working with lead organizations CrossOver Health Care Ministry and The Daily Planet have been awarded two of 25 health-care grants issued nationwide by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation.

Project IMPACT: Diabetes, IMProving America’s Communities Together, is a three-year initiative designed to help fully integrate pharmacists into the health-care team so as to address challenges faced by patients with diabetes. Project IMPACT: Diabetes will infuse a total of $625,000 into 25 selected innovative practice sites whose interdisciplinary models incorporate pharmacists into diabetes care.

Sallie Mayer, assistant professor at VCU School of Pharmacy, has been named Community Champion for the CrossOver Health Care Ministry project, which also will partner with Richmond’s Fan Free Clinic and the Goochland Free Clinic. VCU School of Pharmacy professor Jean-Venable “Kelly” Goode will serve as Community Champion for The Daily Planet project.

CrossOver’s health-care services for the uninsured include family medicine, primary care, obstetrics and pediatrics, podiatry, dental and vision, mental health, HIV diagnosis and treatment and critical medications. Patients who are under the care of one of CrossOver’s three free clinics will work with a core diabetes care team consisting of a physician and a pharmacist. The care team will help patients focus on areas such as nutrition, ophthalmology, podiatry and counseling.

“I am thrilled to deepen our partnership with the pharmacy community,” said Michael Murchie, assistant medical director of CrossOver. “The diabetes patients that we serve have an urgent need for a multidiscliplinary approach based on their many barriers of care.“Having pharmacists co-lead this diabetes care initiative is ideal, given their ability to enhance patient education as well as collaboratively manage direct patient care. What excites me most about this grant is that I know it will directly improve individual lives.”

The Daily Planet, a Federally Qualified Health Care for the Homeless Clinic, will offer a two-tiered program that includes comprehensive interdisciplinary diabetes outreach to provide diabetes risk and prevention education, screening and diabetes management. Founded in 1969 to provide homeless teens with shelter, meals, health clinics and counseling, today The Daily Planet offers primary medical, behavioral health, vision and dental care to the homeless, uninsured and underinsured regardless of their ability to pay.

“Partnering with the VCU School of Pharmacy will allow us to extend our reach and truly provide our homeless population with a medical home,” said Lisa Price Stevens, medical director of The Daily Planet.

“Many patient populations could benefit from a diabetes care team such as the one that will be created through this project; however, the homeless patient in particular faces barriers to care that are not routine. These patients, at a minimum, require such a multidisciplinary approach.”

One other Virginia community, Oakwood, received a grant for lead organization Appalachian College of Pharmacy.

The APhA Foundation’s Project IMPACT: Diabetes program is made possible by a grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation’s $100 million initiative, Together on Diabetes: Communities Uniting to Meet America’s Diabetes Challenge. This project was created to target adult populations disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes.