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We’re All in This Together!
I LEADERSHIP FORUM ;'I
We're All in This Together! R. David Cobb, PharmD, Chairman APhA Board of Trustees he battles facing pharmacy are not being fought only at the naT tionallevel. Nor at the state or local levels, for that matter. As the line becomes fuzzier between national, state, and local issues, the need for organized pharmacy's response to be crafted simultaneously at all those levels is clear. As a result, neither can organized pharmacy's strength any longer be measured - or compared with the strength of other professions - solelyon the basis of its organizational clout at the national level. Don't misconstrue this to mean that it's now less important for pharmacy's national organizations to be strong than it used to be - it's just as important as ever, and probably even more so. What it does mean is that the profession must assure that its organizations at the state and local levels are just as strong and effective. Pharmacy's overall strength increasingly will be measured on the merits of its organizational effectiveness at all levels - national, state, and local. APhA is a strong believer that we cannot afford to "go it alone." The profession's chances of success in meeting many challenges will be greatly enhanced through the strengthening of the bonds of cooperation between national and state associations. That is the reason one of my primary obje~tiyes as chairman is to further reVitalize the Association's program to assist and strengthen our state pharmacy associations and to assure their 56
input into all APhA programs and activities. In addition to the state-relations activities in which the Association has been involved for years, we have _ launched a number of new initiatives to strengthen the working relationship that exists between APhA and the state pharmacy associations. We have: • Created the APhA State Affairs Department, staffed by a former state pharmacy association and PSAO president, which is charged with coordinating state participation in all APhA activities; • Launched a state-visitation program for 1989 through which we have offered to send, at APhA's expense, an APhA trustee to each state pharmacy association annual meeting or convention; • Strengthened an ongoing program to recruit pharmacy students to both APhA and state pharmacy association membership; • Undertaken a pilot program to jointly market APhA and state pharmacy association membership to prospective members; • Developed educational programs specifically designed for presentation at state pharmacy association meetings; • Increased the opportunities for state participation in APhA government-affairs activities through the establishment of the Congressional Contact Network and the APhA Political Action Committee; • Published a twice-monthly bulletin to facilitate communication
among the states and between states and APhA; • Assisted in the development of 42 state-level pharmacist-recovery programs to provide assistance to pharmacists and pharmacy students whose competence has been co-mpromised due to chemical dependence or other causes; • Convened a group of representative state pharmacy association executives to provide suggestions for further strengthening APhA's state-outreach efforts. APhA believes that these activities - and more that will be put into place in the future - will help strengthen our state pharmacy associations. We believe that they will forge an even stronger cooperative relationship between the state associations and APhA, and therefore that all will benefit. There also is an important role that each and every member can play. If you are a member of APhA but not your state pharmacy association' join it. If you already are a state pharmacy association member and have colleagues who are members of the state association but not APhA, urge them to join. Pharmacists and pharmacy students can no longer consider membership in their professional societies a pick-and-choose situation. There is no doubt - we're all in this together! ®
American Pharmacy, Vol. NS29, No.6 June 1989/428
We're All in This Together! R. David Cobb, PharmD, Chairman APhA Board of Trustees he battles facing pharmacy are not being fought only at the naT tionallevel. Nor at the state or local levels, for that matter. As the line becomes fuzzier between national, state, and local issues, the need for organized pharmacy's response to be crafted simultaneously at all those levels is clear. As a result, neither can organized pharmacy's strength any longer be measured - or compared with the strength of other professions - solelyon the basis of its organizational clout at the national level. Don't misconstrue this to mean that it's now less important for pharmacy's national organizations to be strong than it used to be - it's just as important as ever, and probably even more so. What it does mean is that the profession must assure that its organizations at the state and local levels are just as strong and effective. Pharmacy's overall strength increasingly will be measured on the merits of its organizational effectiveness at all levels - national, state, and local. APhA is a strong believer that we cannot afford to "go it alone." The profession's chances of success in meeting many challenges will be greatly enhanced through the strengthening of the bonds of cooperation between national and state associations. That is the reason one of my primary obje~tiyes as chairman is to further reVitalize the Association's program to assist and strengthen our state pharmacy associations and to assure their 56
input into all APhA programs and activities. In addition to the state-relations activities in which the Association has been involved for years, we have _ launched a number of new initiatives to strengthen the working relationship that exists between APhA and the state pharmacy associations. We have: • Created the APhA State Affairs Department, staffed by a former state pharmacy association and PSAO president, which is charged with coordinating state participation in all APhA activities; • Launched a state-visitation program for 1989 through which we have offered to send, at APhA's expense, an APhA trustee to each state pharmacy association annual meeting or convention; • Strengthened an ongoing program to recruit pharmacy students to both APhA and state pharmacy association membership; • Undertaken a pilot program to jointly market APhA and state pharmacy association membership to prospective members; • Developed educational programs specifically designed for presentation at state pharmacy association meetings; • Increased the opportunities for state participation in APhA government-affairs activities through the establishment of the Congressional Contact Network and the APhA Political Action Committee; • Published a twice-monthly bulletin to facilitate communication
among the states and between states and APhA; • Assisted in the development of 42 state-level pharmacist-recovery programs to provide assistance to pharmacists and pharmacy students whose competence has been co-mpromised due to chemical dependence or other causes; • Convened a group of representative state pharmacy association executives to provide suggestions for further strengthening APhA's state-outreach efforts. APhA believes that these activities - and more that will be put into place in the future - will help strengthen our state pharmacy associations. We believe that they will forge an even stronger cooperative relationship between the state associations and APhA, and therefore that all will benefit. There also is an important role that each and every member can play. If you are a member of APhA but not your state pharmacy association' join it. If you already are a state pharmacy association member and have colleagues who are members of the state association but not APhA, urge them to join. Pharmacists and pharmacy students can no longer consider membership in their professional societies a pick-and-choose situation. There is no doubt - we're all in this together! ®
American Pharmacy, Vol. NS29, No.6 June 1989/428