Canada's first association for Indigenous pharmacy professionals launches with clear plan of action

Canada’s first association representing Indigeneous pharmacy professionals has hit the ground running with a plan of action focused on anti-Indigenous racism and discrimination in healthcare. Indigenous Pharmacy Professionals of Canada launched June 10 during the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) conference in Ottawa. It's working with the CPhA on a number of activities ranging from the development of pharmacy professional training programs on various topics—like the application of Indigenous traditional medicine and how to best present risk factors for conditions such as diabetes and heart disease for racialized communities—to creating standards for building safe spaces for Indigenous pharmacy professionals and patients. “We want to make changes that are going to improve some of those foundational issues that are currently missing in addressing Indigenous health and Indigenous community supports,” said Amy Lamb, a Saskatchewan-based pharmacy practice consultant of Métis ancestry who is co-chairing the new association with pharmacist Jaris Swidrovich, a Two Spirit Saulteaux First Nations and Ukrainian person from Yellow Quill First Nation in Saskatchewan. “We are working to prepare the systems in which we’re operating to be better equipped to have representation and empowerment for Indigenous Peoples.” Read: Pharmacy Leader Amy Lamb: "Creating safe spaces for my patients to heal has been my primary goal." Formed with financial and administrative support from the CPhA, IPPAC’s overarching goal is to build a supportive community for the country’s Indigenous pharmacy professionals while making a positive impact on the lives of Indigenous Peoples across Canada, Swidrovich told Pharmacy Practice + Business. Swidrovich, who started his pharmacy career in 2006, when he entered his first year of studies at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, said he recognized even then how Indigenous pharmacy students and professionals “often exist in isolation” in their school programs and workplaces. Research involving Indigenous participants that he conducted while completing his doctorate in education at the University of Saskatchewan confirmed his personal observations and experiences. “We often exist in isolation in school programs and workplaces—every single one of the participants in my (PhD research) all said the same thing over and over,” said Swidrovich, who is now an assistant professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. “Because there’s so few of us and we’re so spread out, too often we’re not even sure there are others around . . . we’re just hanging out in our own silos.” Read: Indigenous pharmacist Jaris Swidrovich on better educating pharmacists While there are no statistics tracking the number of Indigenous pharmacy professionals in Canada, Lamb and Swidrovich hope the IPPC will help shed light on this information. So far, said Lamb, about 20 Indigenous pharmacy professionals have joined the new association. “Part of the difficulty of engaging members across the country is finding time with busy pharmacists,” she said. “We had quite a warm welcome at the CPhA conference and we’re hoping that with the announcement and a little bit of visibility throughout the pharmacy industry we’ll be able to create this community of Indigenous pharmacy professionals that’s been missing all these years.” Read: App allows Indigenous communities to collect their own health data

Canada's first association for Indigenous pharmacy professionals launches with clear plan of action

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