The UW Student Pharmacy survived budget cuts and will live on as a subset of the UW College of Pharmacy. It was announced last year that the pharmacy would be cut following the resignation of one of the pharmacy staff and the university’s fiscal crisis.
According to an article published in the Branding Iron in February of 2017, “The closure of the pharmacy will take place at the end of the 2017 fiscal year in June, (Director of UW Student Health Services Joanne) Steane said.”
While the announcement was not considered a permanent decision, it did shock many at the time of its release.
One of the people directly affected and surprised by this announcement was Megan Peterson, who serves as the pharmacy supervisor.
“Because I still don’t understand it, why they cut the pharmacy,” Peterson said. “Because we were self-sufficient.”
Peterson said that the pharmacy had just begun to make a profit and become sustainable when this decision was announced.
“And Kem Krueger, and I discussed that in length that we are finally, we don’t have to rely so much on student fees and stuff like that anymore,” Peterson said.
The pharmacy avoided closing following the restructuring of the program and the repositioning of it on campus to fall under the college of pharmacy instead of UW Student Health.
“Well, Kem Krueger, the dean of pharmacy, and I got together a lot and just really fought just because it’s just so, we just felt like it was important for the students, it was a great service,” Peterson said.
With this restructuring, the program is now able to benefit a variety of people on campus. There are more opportunities for experience open to students from the college of pharmacy.
The pharmacy is able to provide internships to students at the school of pharmacy, with one of these potential two positions currently filled.
“I like, now that it’s under the school of pharmacy because my boss, Megan, can be more involved in like the school of pharmacy teaching as well as being a preceptor,” Tara Hensley, a third-year pharmacy student and intern at the pharmacy, said.
These changes have not only helped the staff at the pharmacy, it has also impacted most other parts of the program.
“And, I think that I don’t know, that it’s good that the school of pharmacy gets financial benefits from running it,” Hensley said.
In addition to the school and the staff, the students have experienced much of the benefits.
“I feel like I get a lot more experience counseling than like a retail setting, that’s super busy,” Hensley said. “And Megan makes sure that we get that type of experience along with getting to talk to providers here. You don’t usually get to work in the same building with doctors, so that’s really nice.”
