For the second time this year, a WSU student pharmacist has earned national recognition for volunteer service.
Jamie L. Robinson recently received the Pharmacy Times/Wal-Mart RESPy Award for Respect, Excellence and Service in Pharmacy, which includes a $1,000 tuition scholarship, a handcrafted piece of commemorative art and her profile in the March 2009 issue of Pharmacy Times. The award is given out 10 times a year.
Earlier this year, student Lindy Wood learned she won the RESPy Award for her service with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients in Spokane. Her story in the February issue of Pharmacy Times is online at www.pharmacytimes.com/issues/articles/2009-02_020.asp
Robinson, in her third year of WSU’s four-year professional pharmacy program, grew up with parents who believed in helping others. She started volunteering at age 14 at Harrison Medical Center in her hometown of Bremerton, Wash.
“I have a lot of empathy for people. There’s a fine line between me and them and I realize that could be me who needs help,” Robinson said. “I also think you feel better about yourself if you volunteer. It helps you get outside yourself.”
It has been more than 20 years since she had that first volunteer job at the hospital. Since then, she has contributed her time to many organizations, including the Bremerton Soccer Club, View Ridge Elementary School reading tutor, PTA and Peninsula Community Health Services.
As a pharmacy student, Robinson has been active in the planning, organizing and implementation of several student activities.
Her nominator was the director of student services, now retired, who said, “Jamie Robinson is a very well balanced person, a single mother, and non-traditional student who has demonstrated a very high level of maturity, moral character, leadership and professionalism. She is truly a role model for her colleagues as well as younger professional students.”
Robinson’s volunteer work at Peninsula Community Health Services in Bremerton evolved into a pharmacy intern job before she left to attend pharmacy school. She hopes to return to work there after she graduates in 2010.
The RESPy award was first given out in May 2006 to a University of Louisiana student who worked at Wal-Mart and helped the victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Award winners are judged on their voluntary public service, their health-related activities outside the classroom and their efforts to advance the pharmacy profession in the public arena.
The WSU professional pharmacy program is co-located at Pullman and Spokane. Students spend their first two years of study on the Pullman campus, their third year of study on the WSU Spokane campus, and during their fourth year, they rotate through clerkships supervised by other professional pharmacists around the state of Washington.
