SACPA sessions to focus on pharmacy, World Food Program

By Jensen, Randy on June 18, 2020.

LETHBRIDGE HERALD

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs will be hosting a pair of livestreamed sessions today and Friday, starting at 10 a.m. both days.

Today’s session is titled “Has the Role of Pharmacies Changed Due to the COVID-19 Virus?”

The COVID-19 virus has prompted many people to seek preventive medications with vitamins, minerals and probiotics flying off pharmacy shelves. Unproven and sometimes even dangerous medications have been touted as cures for this virus, some by well-known people. Such claims put pharmacists in the position of protecting us from ourselves.

Today’s speaker, Ron Hendry, pharmacist and owner of Thriftway Pharmacy, is living this journey since pharmacies have been designated as an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic, and he will share his pre COVID-19 experiences while also elaborating on his perceptions of the role pharmacies will play in a post pandemic future.

Friday’s topic is “Why should people give Money to UN’s World Food Program (WFP) or other aid agencies when there is so much need in the developed world countries?”

Friday’s speaker is Marwa Awad, who works as a humanitarian aid communications officer with the World Food Program in areas of conflict including Iraq, Syria, Burkina Faso and South Sudan. In the past decade she has seen how investing in WFP food assistance operations means investing in keeping people alive and healthy as well as limiting their inclination to flee elsewhere which disrupts both local and international economies. Supporting WFP also means helping build the resilience of communities so that they can get back on their own feet.

Today’s YouTube link is https://youtu.be/yIS94mAY2Y8 while the link for Friday’s session is https://youtu.be/ukEQxWnpag8.

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