Dear Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy community,

As the University continues to play it’s part to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by moving all classes online and supporting faculty and staff to work from home, we are keenly aware of our faculty members and partners who are working tirelessly on the frontlines of patient care, be it in hospital or community-based practice. 

Last week we made the difficult decision to pause our experiential education rotations. This decision was made in coordination with all other health sciences faculties at U of T and in discussions with many of our partners including TAHSN hospital leaders. Since announcing the pause, we continue to work quickly to reshape our experiential learning so that students can be redeployed safely and with maximum possible contribution to the COVID-19 response.

Although this pause has meant students are not physically onsite, they continue to learn from the example of our strong community of front line pharmacists including many who are part of our Faculty phamily. This example demonstrates the dedication of pharmacy healthcare professionals committed to helping Canadians through this pandemic. On behalf of our Faculty, thank you for the work you are doing every day. We recognize the crucial role you are playing and that you are often doing so at great personal sacrifice. Thank you.

Earlier this week we asked our Instagram followers to share messages of support for frontline pharmacists.  Here are some of the messages we received and posted:

  • “Proud of all my colleagues! Innovative practice in difficult circumstances. Putting patients first”
  • “Thank you for working to keep me and my family safe”
  •  “You are true heroes, sending lots of love and energy. Can’t wait for the day to join you”

Echoing what many have already said, we are all in this together. Beyond revamping our experiential education, the Faculty is working closely with our University counterparts on how we can use our many resources to best support the effort to fight COVID-19. Research to develop new diagnostics is underway and we are actively investigating how our physical spaces might be used to help respond to both immediate and emerging needs. We will continue to keep you and others in our community informed as decisions are made and plans progress.

With deep gratitude,

 

 

Lisa Dolovich
Dean
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy
University of Toronto