FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2016
Media Contacts:
Chad Clinton
Associate Director, Public Relations
American Pharmacists Association
(202) 429-7558
WASHINGTON, DC – The Kentucky Pharmacists Association (KPhA) has selected Ronald Poole, R.Ph., as the recipient of the 2016 Bowl of Hygeia Award for outstanding community service. Poole was presented with the award at the Ray Wirth Banquet at the 138 th Annual Meeting and Convention on Saturday, June 4. The Bowl of Hygeia is sponsored by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation, the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations and the American Pharmacists Association with support from Boehringer Ingelheim.
Poole epitomizes the standards expected of candidates for this very prestigious award by his continued involvement in his community and his profession. It is through his service and contribution to his community of Central City, Muhlenberg County, KY that he has become recognized as a community leader.
Poole jumped into community service shortly after his move to Central City after earning his pharmacy degree from the University Of Kentucky College Of Pharmacy in 1990. Poole joined the Knights of Columbus of St. Joseph Church in Central City in 1991. Subsequently, he has served this organization as a Charter Member and President in 1999. He has been a Fourth Degree Member since 1994.
Poole embodies the character of this award in his work as a builder of community relationships and opportunities for both adults and youth in his communities. He has addressed his concerns about limited access to readily available pharmacy services in his communities and has expanded his community pharmacy business to surrounding communities. He now owns or is a partner in community pharmacies in Central City, Owensboro, Livermore and Greenville, Kentucky.
Poole’s professional career includes an ongoing active participation in the professional and economic development of the pharmacy profession. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of KPhA and was President in 2007. Poole also represented pharmacy on the Kentucky Medicaid Advisory Council for Medical Assistance from 2010 through 2013 and served as the committee Chair from 2011through 2013.
He is very active in the training and developing young pharmacists as a preceptor and a community faculty member of the colleges of pharmacy at East Tennessee State University, Mercer University, Ohio Northern University, Samford University, St Louis College of Pharmacy and the University of Kentucky.
Established in 1958, the Bowl of Hygeia Award recognizes pharmacists who possess outstanding records of civic leadership in their communities and encourages pharmacists to take active roles in the affairs of their respective communities. The award is presented annually by participating state pharmacist associations, including those in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In addition to service through their local, state and national pharmacy associations, award recipients have devoted their time, talent and resources to a wide variety of causes and community service.
The Bowl of Hygeia is the most widely recognized international symbol for the pharmacy profession and is considered one of the profession’s most prestigious awards. The Bowl of Hygeia has been associated with the pharmacy profession since as early as 1796 when the symbol was used on a coin minted for the Parisian Society of Pharmacy. The bowl represents a medicinal potion and the snake represents healing. Healing through medicine is precisely why the pharmacy profession has adopted the Bowl of Hygeia symbol.
About the American Pharmacists Association Foundation
The APhA Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., is a trusted source of research demonstrating how pharmacists can improve health care. The APhA Foundation’s mission is to improve people’s health through pharmacists’ patient care services. The APhA Foundation is affiliated with the American Pharmacists Association, the national professional society of pharmacists in the U.S. For more information, please visit the APhA Foundation website www.aphafoundation.org. Follow the APhA Foundation on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates.
About the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations
The National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA) promotes leadership, sharing, learning, and policy exchange among pharmacy leaders in all 50 states and Washington, DC, and provides education and advocacy to support pharmacists, patients, and communities working together to improve public health. NASPA was founded in 1927 as the National Council of State Pharmacy Association Executives (NCSPAE). For more information, please visit the NASPA Web site www.naspa.us.