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Ohio Northern University CPNP Chapter (Written by: Missy Weaver, Mikayla Shea, Rachel Jackson, Anna Furman, and Lindsey Peters)

Ohio Northern University, established in 1871, is located in small-town Ada, Ohio and strives to provide a high-quality learning environment that prepares students for success in their careers; service to their communities, the nation, and the world; and a lifetime of personal growth inspired by the higher values of truth, beauty, and goodness. The ONU Raabe College of Pharmacy aims to prepare pharmacists who improve health, serve others, lead change, and advance the profession. With the founding of the ONU CPNP chapter in 2015, we have created many valuable community outreach events to do just that!

Ohio Northern University’s chapter of CPNP has made large impacts in our community in its short existence on campus. We provide our student chapter members the opportunity to learn more about this niche of pharmacy while fostering personal growth and development along the way. For our campus, we provide engaging activities that allow students, faculty, and staff to comfortably learn more about topics that seem to only be whispered about. In our community, we devote our time and passion to spreading awareness about many mental health conditions through over 10 health fairs. We also educate over 40 schools on the dangers of prescription drug abuse and provide guidance during innumerable hours of focus group meetings for Coleman Behavioral Health.

A specific area of success is with Coleman Education. Coleman Professional Services is a national, non-profit organization founded in 1978 that provides services to nine counties around Ohio. Coleman’s vision is to foster recovery through immediate and open access to services regardless of the ability to pay, to build independence by ensuring that people who are homeless and mentally ill have a permanent place to live, and to change destinies by helping people obtain employment, thus reducing their dependence on entitlements. Coleman Professional Services is founded on a social enterprise business model and is a nationally recognized not-for-profit provider of behavior health and rehabilitation programs.

ONU CPNP students partner with Coleman Professional Services (or “Coleman”) in Allen county. Coleman, an outpatient Community Mental Health Center, sees adult patients and provides services for mental health conditions, addiction, and crisis interventions. Coleman also provides community support groups, supportive housing, criminal justice service, and outreach programs. On site psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists provide mental health care to these patients of Allen County.

We have created a committee of ONU students of all years and we work together to create presentations about different mental health topics such as anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. These presentations are designed for a subset of patients who come back each month and learn about the various disease states their peers may be experiencing. Within these presentations we focus on the signs and symptoms of a disease state, the prevalence, common medications used, and the most common side effects of those medications. One of the goals of this education is to help patients manage some of the most common side effects of the medications used for these different conditions. It is also a great way for patients to empathize with their peers and see these disease states from another perspective. Learning more about the disease states helps the patients understand why it is so important to take their medications and encourage their peers to do the same. It is really rewarding to help patients improve their adherence and compliance with medication therapy!

We also interact with patients through a variety of hands-on activities, such as making stress balls or playing bingo. Even though the purpose of our community outreach at Coleman is to teach the patients, we truly learn just as much from them! Partnering with a community mental health center is an awesome opportunity to show that as pharmacy students, especially CPNP student groups, can help make a difference! During fall semester, CPNP educated 89 patients and answered 13 drug information questions that resulted in 5 referrals to Coleman providers. Through this community service, we have learned that pharmacy is a key aspect of patient care and we see the impact we can have on patients’ lives!

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