Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor for me to be here today at the OSPA 2017 Annual Convention & Trade Show to present the next award to a very deserving recipient.
The “Bowl of Hygeia” is the most widely recognized international symbol of pharmacy and derives from Greek mythology. Hygeia was the daughter and assistant of Es-Kah-Lay-Pi-Ous, the God of Medicine and Healing. Her classical symbol was a bowl containing a medicinal potion, with the serpent of wisdom (or guardianship) partaking of it. This is the same serpent of wisdom that appears on the caduceus, which is the symbol of medicine.
The “Bowl of Hygeia” Award is presented annually by participating pharmacy associations in each of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The recipients are selected by their respective associations for their outstanding record of community service. The Bowl of Hygeia award is sponsored by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation and the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations.
To honor all those who have gone before, I would like to ask all previous recipients of the “Bowl of Hygeia” Award who are present today to stand and be recognized.
This year’s Bowl of Hygeia Winner will receive a plaque honoring her for winning this award. The recipient will also receive a lapel pin that will identify her as a member of a group of outstanding pharmacists, now numbering over 2,500. These pharmacists have distinguished themselves through their actions. Today, we honor a Corvallis, OR, pharmacist in recognition of her service to the community and to the profession.
The 2017 Bowl of Hygeia recipient…
was a "non-traditional" student, having served her country as a Marine and having honed her auditing and tracking skills as an accountant. She turned from bean counting to pill counting while taking care of her grandfather when he struggled with dementia during the final years of his life. Lee Strandberg, a well-known figure in the Corvallis pharmacy community, worked at her grandfather’s preferred pharmacy. He noted her care for her grandfather and love of precision as hallmarks of a superior pharmacist. The rest, as
they say, is history.
This recipient is an activist for change inside and outside the pharmacy profession. While in pharmacy school (OSU Class of 2009), she served on several university student committees, worked part time, and served as treasurer of LOVE INC of Benton County. During her final year of pharmacy school, she traveled to the Dominican Republic on the first of many international medical mission trips. She now travels once, sometimes twice, a year to service patients and train caregivers across the globe,
including Guatemala, Ecuador, and India. She resumed her work with LOVE INC of Benton County in 2011 and served once again as treasurer for nearly 7 years. She has also supported and engaged in programs with the House of Engedi, a shelter for adult women working to escape from human trafficking in Oregon. She was also an early adopter and advocate for pharmacist immunization programs and pharmacist prescribed birth control. She also finds time to volunteer at various community and church events, as well as
providing foster care for greyhounds.
Upon returning to Corvallis in 2011, this recipient resumed her service with the College of Pharmacy as a volunteer preceptor at various community outreach programs. She is truly a "Pharmacist's Pharmacist," demonstrating a commitment to advanced clinical practice. She received her residency training at the VA Hospital in Syracuse NY, is a BCPS, ACLS certified, an incessant documenter of processes at her hospital, and even takes care of the medical leeches. She is well known to students as a preceptor with high expectations
and a commitment to helping students "learn how to learn.” Of course, she also makes sure the students have the "opportunity" to take care of the leeches. Hence, she is known in some student circles as "the leech lady."
Throughout these varied activities, there is the common thread of commitment to maximizing human potential through love.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for allowing me to share in recognizing the accomplishments of a deserving recipient and one who epitomizes the principles of community service for which this award was
developed. Please welcome to the podium and join me in congratulating the newest member of Oregon State Pharmacy Association’s Bowl of Hygeia Award Recipient “family”, Mercy Chipman.