Ebony Jack: A Pharm Blog

March Community Service Hours:  4 Spring Semester Community Service Hours:  16 Ohhh my goodness! Another month has gone by already?!?  Well, my community engagement mission for this month was inspired by the tornados that ripped through Southeastern U.S. on March 24th. One area in particular near Rolling Fork, Mississippi caught my attention while watching the news, as it was reported that one of the tornados that passed through the area had winds up to 170 mph, traveled 60 miles and lasted for over an hour! Photos of the aftermath were heartbreaking, especially when it was reported that at least 26 people had been killed in the storms that rummaged through the Southeast. I decided that this was the time to take action and be of assistance! I began looking for local organizations in the New Orleans area that were accepting donations of items like water and other necessities, but was only able to find organizations accepting MONETARY donations. I wanted to do something more "hands-

  February Community Service Hours:  7 Spring Semester Community Service Hours:  12 February already?!?! The time is flying by! This has been a great month, but I'm sad knowing that we are getting closer to the end of our program. It's been such a great journey so far, that's given me so many opportunities to grow in my academics and my community engagement. For this month's service, I worked with Medical Reserve Corps: New Orleans and American Red Cross as a volunteer at the Jackson and St. Charles Mardi Gras First Aid Tent. We got the opportunity to help parade goers by tending to their minor injuries like cuts and bruises and referred more severe injuries (like major falls and head injuries) to New Orleans EMS located across the street. I was a little nervous to volunteer at this location because 5 people were shot a few streets down from where I would be stationed just the day before I was due to be there, but I turned that fear into motivation to be the best volunt

 January Community Service Hours : 5 Spring Semester Total:  5 For this month's community service, I partnered with City Year New Orleans on MLK Day for what they call "A Day On, Not A Day Off" to improve the campus of Mildred Osborne Charter School. There were over 200 volunteers that showed up to help paint murals, tidy up the garden areas and write positive messages on notecards to keep the students motivated. I really enjoyed this service event because I got to meet so many people and hear about their motivations for volunteering, while also improving the school community for students as a way to increase their enthusiasm and pride in the school they attend. This was such a lovely event to be a part of, I even was one of the winners of the raffle for Starbucks gift cards! I also earned one hour of service learning by attending the orientation for volunteering with New Orleans Medical Reserve Corps. During the orientation, we were taught the proper protocol for volunte

December Community Service Hours: 7 Semester Community Service Hours: 17 We are officially in our last days! Fall Pharmacology days that is! I can't believe it's almost over. For December's community service, I completed three service opportunities: Adopt a Senior Holiday Edition, Operation Value Our Vets, and The Angel Card Project.  Adopt a Senior and Operation Value Our Vets were two opportunities sponsored through Ochsner Serves, a volunteer organization for Ochsner employees looking to serve their local communities. For Adopt a Senior, we partnered with Home Instead to buy and wrap gifts for a senior at three local retirement communities: Audubon Retirement Village, Terraces in Tulane, and Ferncrest. Due to current restrictions, I was unable to deliver the gifts personally to each senior, which I was hoping we would get to do because that's my favorite part of volunteer activities like this. However, the volunteer coordination team is collecting all the donated gif

  November Community Service Hours: 5 Semester Community Service Hours: 10 For this month's community service, I decided to make "Blessing Bags" filled with self-care items to gift to people facing homelessness. This is an activity that I have done before, but this time I conducted some research before constructing the bags to make sure I put appropriate items in each bag. This time around, my research led me to do something I had not thought to do previously, which was to include specific products for feminine hygiene and young children. That being said, I went supply shopping and constructed bags for men, women, and kids. The men's bag included bandages, men's socks, face & body cleansing wipes, lip balm, tissues, a bottle of water, and snacks. The women's bag contained similar items with the addition of menstrual pads, tampons, and feminine cleansing cloths, while the kids' bags included the addition of fruit snacks and baby wipes. After the bags we

October community service hours: 0 Semester community service hours total: 5 For this month's community service, I was, unfortunately, unable to attend an event I planned to volunteer at with the Second Harvest Food Bank due to a tragedy in my family. We lost our grandfather to COVID/pneumonia complications on October 14th. It's been tough, especially for my mom, but I try to be there for her as much as possible. It was nice to see members of my family that I had not seen in a very long time, but I wish it had not been under those circumstances. As for school, I am really starting to see just how valuable this program is in everyday life. For instance, before starting this program, I would see pharmacological terms and medicine names being mentioned in TV advertisements, my job at urgent care, etc., and would be slightly intimidated because there was so much I didn't know. Now, I hear them mentioned and I get excited like "OMG, I know what that word means!" or &q