Editor's note: This article corrects the original attribution of James Barclay, which originally read Dave Barclay.
The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences alongside the group “Fighting AIDS with Nutrition” are winding down their Ensure Can Drive.
“It has surpassed my expectations,” said pastor Frank Julian, creator of FAWN.
FAWN began in 2001 after Julian traveled to Botswana on a mission trip. After learning that Ensure helped build the immune systems of HIV/AIDS sufferers, Julian began sending cans of liquid nutrition.
Since the program began, Julian along with his congregation and other donators have sent more than 20 shipments, totaling over 45 tons of liquid nutrition.
After hearing Julian speak at the Department of Health and Wellness at Herman Kieffer Hospital in January, three of assistant professor Geralynn Smith’s second-year pharmacy students shared the information with their classmates.
The spread of information gave way to a contribution of $300 from Rho Chi, the national honor society of pharmacy, which considered the gift “[their] way of helping to fight the health disparities across the world,” said Tarik Ibrahim, president of Rho Chi.
Recently, Julian returned to EACPHS and made a presentation on the “Value and Importance of Nutrition when Fighting HIV/AIDS.”
Donations of 800 to 1,000 bottles generic liquid nutritional supplement drinks from a variety of people, 17 cases of CVS Brand Liquid Nutrition and a total collection of $1,200 from students, faculty, employees, committees and student organizations of the EACPHS have been given toward the effort, mostly between March 25 and March 27, said James Barclay, one of the students heading the WSU effort and a second-year doctor of pharmacy student.
As the semester comes to a close, Smith and her students do not want to see the relationship between FAWN and the students come to an end.
“One goal is to actually commit retailers, pharmacies and hospitals to donate expired product,” Barclay said. “According to Rev. Julian, and several sources of his, expired liquid nutrition is perfectly safe and still provides excellent nutrition for African AIDS patients. It just may be a little less potent.”
Regulations and standards restrict the donation of expired products, but the pharmacy’s goal is to change the perception that expired liquid nutrition is dangerous.
The students involved in FAWN at WSU are genuinely happy to be involved in an effort that can save lives.
“There is a sense of joy that I get when I know I am doing the right thing and helping people when I can,” Chidiebere Chibuzo Nwanyanwu said. “The more Ensure and Boost we send to these patients, the more lives we will be saving, which is a wonderful thing.”
Cans of liquid nutrition can be dropped off at the EACPHS building in the pharmacy practice at the front desk.
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