Fourth year pharmacy student Meghan Duquette and Assistant Professor of the College of Pharmacy Ashton Beggs recently returned from a week-long medical mission trip to Gobert, Haiti. Duquette was selected for this Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience last spring and was the second student in participate in the annual opportunity.

Under Beggs’s supervision, Duquette was involved in all medication-related aspects of the trip planning, which began summer 2014. The duo was responsible for choosing the medications they would take on the trip, all purchased from Blessings International. Medication labeling was developed by Duquette in both English and Creole, the native language of Haiti. While in Gobert, Duquette and Beggs were in charge of aiding the providers in selecting drug therapy, dispensing medications and counseling patients on each prescription.

Additional pharmacy students were involved in trip preparations including counting, packaging and labeling the medications prior to shipment. “It was great to see pharmacy students from all years come together to prepare the medications,” Duquette said. “Caring for patients in a third-world country is eye-opening. This experience has undoubtedly shaped my pharmacy path.”