An innovative exchange

As part of a unique program, four pharmacy students from Howard University, Washington, D.C. and three pharmacy students from the University of Wyoming visited Saratoga on Sunday. Accompanied by their instructors and Janet Renneisen, academic advisor at the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy, they visited the North Platte Valley Medical Center Sunday afternoon.

The students are part of the Health Equity Leadership Program, an innovative exchange program. The initiative, funded by the 23rd Annual National Chain Drug stores (NACDS) Foundation Scholarship Program, is geared toward challenging students to get "outside of their comfort zone" to learn first-hand about both urban and rural healthcare access and equity issues.

The lifestyle here in rural Wyoming is not the norm for a good portion of the United States population. The visiting students were fascinated by not only the landscape, but also the lifestyle in general.

During the students' visit they were able to tour the Saratoga Care Center and visit with Rod Waeckerlin, owner of Valley Pharmacy, where they learned not all pharmacies are big companies. Many of the students had never seen an independently owned pharmacy.

The students had lots of fun as well, visiting the Terry Bison Ranch, playing in snow in the mountains and lunching at the Saratoga Resort.

One common thread throughout the conversation at lunch was how many mounts are hanging on the walls. Except for the two Wyoming natives in the group, the rest were surprised by all the animal heads they saw everywhere they went.

Ayanna Macintosh a second-year pharmacy school student, is from Queens, New York City and she was stunned at the slow pace here in Wyoming. When she left Queens and went to Washington, D.C. she was surprised at how much smaller D.C. was, but this is surreal. She said she was at the V Bar Ranch near Laramie, sitting outside and suddenly realized she felt peaceful–the peace you get from being still. She said she couldn't remember ever feeling that way before.

Jordan Lowery of Roanoke, Virginia said he loved the wilderness and the wide open spaces. He said he really wants to learn to hunt. He actually has a friend that comes to Wyoming and Montana to hunt. He said he will definitely take his friend up on his next invitation to go hunting in Wyoming.

Christopher Bratcher of Richmond, Virginia also attends Howard University. He said he's never seen anything like Wyoming. He said actually being able to see for miles out from where he was standing was weird because he's been in cities like Baltimore and Washington, D.C. his entire life. He went snowshoeing and said it was so calming and beautiful.

Ody, a young lady from Nigeria who is studying at Howard University said she didn't expect to like it as much as she did. She found it calming and said it made her realize there's more to the world than just being on "go" all the time. She thought that they would run into a moose or a bear, but so far they haven't. She said it did scare her, a little, to realize it was a possibility.

Sequoia Ramero is a native Wyoming girl, born in Laramie and she loves it. She is in her second year of pharmacy school at University of Wyoming. Ramero would like to go somewhere else for training, but she said she has so much family here in Laramie, it's hard to leave.

Caitlin Loo of Texas attends University of Wyoming and is in her second year of pharmacy school. She loves to travel and said that is what she wants to do. Loo said she's open to exploring, hiking and seeing new places so once she graduates–that's what she'll be doing.

Bailey Cane is from Douglas and attends the University of Wyoming where she is in her second year of pharmacy school. Cane hasn't decided if she'll stay in Wyoming or not. She said many of her family members has attended UW including her great, great uncle who was one of the first students at the University of Wyoming when it opened its doors. Her family homesteaded in Lusk and her great-grandmother taught school in there. Cane has deep Wyoming roots.

Jesse Rung is from Virginia. He's a professor at Howard University Pharmacy School. This is his second visit and he loves Laramie and Wyoming.

Rung said everyone has been very nice and the lady where he picked up his rental car spent 20 minutes trying to convince him to move to Wyoming. He said he enjoys the freedom and wide open scenery.

In March, these University of Wyoming students will be visiting Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Tonya Woods, from Howard University said the program has been going on for five years. It came about when a dean from UW and a dean from Howard University met a conference. They started discussing a way to give pharmacy students a more professional and diverse education concerning the differences between urban and the rural pharmacies.