Community Residency Training Program featured in national 50 Stories from 50 States Challenge

The ACT Pharmacy Collaborative is an operational learning and “ACTing” collaborative between colleges/schools of pharmacy and clinically integrated networks of community-based pharmacies. The goal of the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative is to support the transformation of community-based pharmacy practice from a product-based care model to a community-based pharmacy care delivery model.

The 50 Stories from 50 States Challenge captured examples of pharmacists and their teams providing impactful patient care in community pharmacies nationwide, and stories were collected by faculty and students working with pharmacist preceptors in their region.

The 50 Stories from 50 States Challenge featured University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (UB SPPS), PGY1 Community Pharmacy resident Matthew Butler, PharmD’21, and Rachel Rosman, PharmD, community pharmacist, for their work at Middleport Family Health Center, one of UB's affiliated community-based residency training sites owned by UB SPPS alumnus Stephen Giroux, BS'81. Faculty lead contact Christopher Daly, PharmD ‘12, MBA, clinical assistant professor, pharmacy practice, was on the team as the residency research preceptor.

The Middleport team collaborated to implement a new and highly needed community resource position, a personal care assistant delivery driver, who would not just drop off prescriptions but who would also check in on the patients he was visiting. The delivery driver served as a critical community observer and patient advocate, identifying and aiding patients who were experiencing poor social determinants of health in this rural, underserved community. The driver’s interventions along with patient information brought back to Middleport demonstrated the vital patient care services pharmacists and their teams provide community pharmacies nationwide.

“The positive impact of our residency training program allows opportunities for community engagement,” says Daly. “Through Matt’s vision and efforts, he brought new elements to [Middleport Family Health Center] and expanded their offerings to individuals who needed medical assistance."