It is the start of the university academic year, and first-year university students, including pharmacy students, are keen to find their feet. Soon, they will be immersed in a culture of community engagement.
They will serve communities with the new skills and knowledge they will acquire.
“Their first year is limited to class activities and receiving their immunisations, while in their second year, it is all about physical assessments and learning clinical skills such as tuberculosis screening, and CV risk assessment - an integrated approach that estimates the combined risk factors to predict a heart attack or stroke in the next five years. Maternal and child health is another area that students would explore,” said Professor Angeni Bheekie, now retired (at the end of 2023), from the School of Pharmacy.
“One of the options in their journey happens in conjunction with Touching Nations, a non-profit organisation employing 140 home-based caregivers in Delft.”
The University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) School of Pharmacy has provided healthcare services to the elderly and sick Delft community through a formal partnership with the Western Cape Department of Health for the past 14 years.
Pharmacy students gain critical hands-on practical experience through the programme.
Service Learning in Pharmacy (SLiP) has formed an integral component of the Pharmacy Educational Curriculum at UWC. It involves all students in the pharmacy programme who visit designated community healthcare facilities to carry out various priority health tasks.
Kim Maree, a chemistry graduate who followed her dream by pursuing a career in pharmacy, has now completed a second year through the SLiP programme at one of the City of Cape Town’s Centres for Disease Control in Ravensmead.
“With our first visit to the Centre, we were feeling very unsure and intimidated, knowing that Ravensmead is notorious for gang-related activities. When we got there, the staff was like a big family; they welcomed us and made us feel like we were part of the team. We noticed how they cared for one another as staff members and how they were protective of their patients whenever there was a shooting or life-threatening situation,” she said.
“I really enjoy working in the community. I have learned that we, as students, have a lot to offer. For instance, while working with the youth at the family planning section of the centre, we were amazed at the misinformation that exists around contraception and the way patients were using medication. It was a lovely learning curve, working with real-life patients from the get-go.”
Professor Renier Coetzee, at the School of Public Health, is passionate about community engagement and talks about social accountability, in which service, teaching and research are used to address the healthcare needs of a community.
“Prof Bheekie introduced me to the concept of social accountability and taught me everything I know about community engagement. I am forever grateful for her leadership and encouragement,” said Prof Coetzee.
Professor Coetzee concentrates on engaging with one community at a time, specifically in Delft. Through community engagements, students learn soft skills, which he believes cannot be taught from a textbook.
“While servicing the Delft community, our students observe how the home-based carers would clean patients and how to do adherence testing. In this way, our students will get an opportunity to talk to patients, to get their perspective on certain diseases, and it allows for opportunities to ask about medicines and their effects,” said Prof Coetzee.
“We keep in mind that the home-based carers are not healthcare-trained, so they often sit with unanswered patient questions. This is where pharmacy students with some degree of knowledge can address the needs of the patients, but also work with home-based carers to advise them when needed. Through mentorship, I hope to change patients' lives because I am mentoring the next generation of healthcare professionals.”
Where did the SLiP programme originate from?
Prof Bheekie played a pivotal role in establishing the Service Learning in Pharmacy (SLiP) programme and has been involved with the programme for over 15 years.
On her final day in office at the School of Pharmacy, there was an overwhelming feeling of family among academics, students and support staff. Pleased and confident in the capable staff she left behind, the initiator of a now well-recognised SLiP Programme started this initiative in 2003 after gaining experience in community-based learning programmes.
Dr Mariam Parker is the newly appointed co-ordinator of the SLiP programme for 2024, and Prof Bheekie is confident that her colleagues are able to continue the programme. At the time, he saw a need for students to obtain practical knowledge while assisting communities needing disease management and preventive care services.
Prof Bheekie is a distinguished figure at UWC’s School of Pharmacy and a proud UWC alumnus who earned her PhD from the UWC in 2001. She is a registered pharmacist and tutor at the South African Pharmacy Council.
After gaining experience in hospital pharmacy in both public and private healthcare, she pursued postgraduate studies at UWC in 1994. Her research focuses on service learning, community engagement, chronic disease management, and implementation research at the primary care level.
With a long and impactful career in the field, her contributions leave a lasting mark,especially in service learning and community engagement. Her retirement marks the end of an era and celebrates her significant influence in pharmacy education and practice.
In 2017, Professor Bheekie and her team at the School of Pharmacy were honoured with the Institutional Team Engagement Award by Professor Vivienne Lawack, UWC’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic.
This award recognised their exceptional commitment to team engagement and their outstanding contributions to the institution and the community they serve through teaching and research. It signifies the importance of their collaborative efforts in achieving the goals and objectives of their academic community.
They will serve communities with the new skills and knowledge they will acquire.“Their first year is limited to class activities and receiving their immunisations, while in their second year, it is all about physical assessments and learning clinical skills such as tuberculosis screening, and CV risk assessment - an integrated approach that estimates the combined risk factors to predict a heart attack or stroke in the next five years. Maternal and child health is another area that students would explore,” said Professor Angeni Bheekie, now retired (at the end of 2023), from the School of Pharmacy.
“One of the options in their journey happens in conjunction with Touching Nations, a non-profit organisation employing 140 home-based caregivers in Delft.”
The University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) School of Pharmacy has provided healthcare services to the elderly and sick Delft community through a formal partnership with the Western Cape Department of Health for the past 14 years.
Pharmacy students gain critical hands-on practical experience through the programme.
Service Learning in Pharmacy (SLiP) has formed an integral component of the Pharmacy Educational Curriculum at UWC. It involves all students in the pharmacy programme who visit designated community healthcare facilities to carry out various priority health tasks.
Kim Maree, a chemistry graduate who followed her dream by pursuing a career in pharmacy, has now completed a second year through the SLiP programme at one of the City of Cape Town’s Centres for Disease Control in Ravensmead.
“With our first visit to the Centre, we were feeling very unsure and intimidated, knowing that Ravensmead is notorious for gang-related activities. When we got there, the staff was like a big family; they welcomed us and made us feel like we were part of the team. We noticed how they cared for one another as staff members and how they were protective of their patients whenever there was a shooting or life-threatening situation,” she said.
“I really enjoy working in the community. I have learned that we, as students, have a lot to offer. For instance, while working with the youth at the family planning section of the centre, we were amazed at the misinformation that exists around contraception and the way patients were using medication. It was a lovely learning curve, working with real-life patients from the get-go.”
Professor Renier Coetzee, at the School of Public Health, is passionate about community engagement and talks about social accountability, in which service, teaching and research are used to address the healthcare needs of a community.
“Prof Bheekie introduced me to the concept of social accountability and taught me everything I know about community engagement. I am forever grateful for her leadership and encouragement,” said Prof Coetzee.
Professor Coetzee concentrates on engaging with one community at a time, specifically in Delft. Through community engagements, students learn soft skills, which he believes cannot be taught from a textbook.
“While servicing the Delft community, our students observe how the home-based carers would clean patients and how to do adherence testing. In this way, our students will get an opportunity to talk to patients, to get their perspective on certain diseases, and it allows for opportunities to ask about medicines and their effects,” said Prof Coetzee.
“We keep in mind that the home-based carers are not healthcare-trained, so they often sit with unanswered patient questions. This is where pharmacy students with some degree of knowledge can address the needs of the patients, but also work with home-based carers to advise them when needed. Through mentorship, I hope to change patients' lives because I am mentoring the next generation of healthcare professionals.”
Where did the SLiP programme originate from?
Prof Bheekie played a pivotal role in establishing the Service Learning in Pharmacy (SLiP) programme and has been involved with the programme for over 15 years.On her final day in office at the School of Pharmacy, there was an overwhelming feeling of family among academics, students and support staff. Pleased and confident in the capable staff she left behind, the initiator of a now well-recognised SLiP Programme started this initiative in 2003 after gaining experience in community-based learning programmes.
Dr Mariam Parker is the newly appointed co-ordinator of the SLiP programme for 2024, and Prof Bheekie is confident that her colleagues are able to continue the programme. At the time, he saw a need for students to obtain practical knowledge while assisting communities needing disease management and preventive care services.
Prof Bheekie is a distinguished figure at UWC’s School of Pharmacy and a proud UWC alumnus who earned her PhD from the UWC in 2001. She is a registered pharmacist and tutor at the South African Pharmacy Council.
After gaining experience in hospital pharmacy in both public and private healthcare, she pursued postgraduate studies at UWC in 1994. Her research focuses on service learning, community engagement, chronic disease management, and implementation research at the primary care level.
With a long and impactful career in the field, her contributions leave a lasting mark,especially in service learning and community engagement. Her retirement marks the end of an era and celebrates her significant influence in pharmacy education and practice.
In 2017, Professor Bheekie and her team at the School of Pharmacy were honoured with the Institutional Team Engagement Award by Professor Vivienne Lawack, UWC’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic.
This award recognised their exceptional commitment to team engagement and their outstanding contributions to the institution and the community they serve through teaching and research. It signifies the importance of their collaborative efforts in achieving the goals and objectives of their academic community.
