Deborah Emery
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I am very proud to say that I have been employed as a hospital pharmacist for over 20 years. Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to work with exceptional pharmacists in a variety of settings and locations, ranging from a small community hospital in Sioux Lookout to large teaching hospitals in Hamilton and Thunder Bay. I’ve worked both as a staff pharmacist and as a manager, and have recently returned to clinical practice as a staff pharmacist at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
Over the years, I have volunteered with the Ontario Branch of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP) in several roles: Chapter Chair, Presidential Officer, and, most recently, Treasurer. At the national level, I have served as a member of the Finance and Audit Committee for the past year. In fact, volunteering—whether with a nonprofit community organization or an annual fundraising event to raise money for breast cancer research and support—has been a constant passion in my life. Why do I volunteer? Well, volunteering brings fulfillment on many levels: connections with others, benefits for the body and mind, and personal fulfillment. There are many grassroots organizations in need of assistance, as well as professional organizations like CSHP. If you are new to involvement with CSHP, I would suggest getting involved at the chapter or branch level as a great starting point.
Volunteering also offers opportunities for networking on multiple levels. Steve Jobs once said, “So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know—just explore things.”1 To me, this quote highlights the networking benefit of volunteering: the chance to discuss and bounce ideas around a group of colleagues and fellow volunteers and ultimately develop solutions to current problems.
At this time, I would like to thank Patrick Fitch, outgoing Director of Finance, for his 4 years of service to CSHP. In addition, I would like to personally thank Patrick for his mentoring, as I follow in his successful footsteps.
I look forward to my term as Director of Finance and to working, networking, and “just exploring things” with the staff in the National office and with my fellow CSHP volunteers.
1. Steve Jobs speaks out. In: CNN Money [website]. Cable News Network; 2008 Mar 7 [cited 2012 Jun 12]. Available from: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0803/gallery.jobsqna.fortune/7.html
Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy , VOLUME 65 , NUMBER 4 , July-August 2012