Pharmacy Students, Residents, Faculty Volunteer at Mobile Clinic

During National Pharmacy Month, students, residents, and faculty members from the Wegmans School of Pharmacy are demonstrating their commitment to the community by volunteering at a mobile health clinic through Rochester Regional Health, Common Ground Health, and InterVol.

Stationed a churches throughout Rochester, the mobile clinic bus provides COVID-19 testing, flu vaccines, and other services to individuals experiencing homelessness and residents of underserved neighborhoods. The team from the School of Pharmacy has been helping with registration and screenings, and in collaboration with Wegmans administering flu vaccines.

Mackenzie Roberts ’19 (Pharm.D.), who is in a post-graduate year two residency in the ambulatory care pharmacy at Rochester Regional Health, said its important for pharmacy students and residents to engage with their community outside of the traditional clinical setting.

“It provides an opportunity for us to step away from our current role and serve our community in a unique way,” said Roberts, who helped patients complete screening paper work at the mobile bus. “Here we are not only able to connect with local members of the community, but also with other medical professionals and students.”

Fourth-year pharmacy student Riley Goho has been seeking out community service opportunities ever since a planned trip to Honduras with the School was canceled due to COVID-19. She volunteered twice at the mobile clinic helping to register patients.

Goho said community service shows patients that pharmacists are accessible and approachable health care professionals, and gives students a deeper understanding of the different backgrounds and communities of their patients.

“This experience just further proved how important it is to provide services to patients that may not have an opportunity to receive these services elsewhere,” she said.