Pharmacy faculty and students promote vaccine education at Farm Science Review

Among the towering machinery and plots of farmland, this year’s attendees of the Farm Science Review could also find a spot to brush up on their vaccine knowledge. 

Armed with a gameshow wheel and a wealth of medical knowledge, Myriam Shaw Ojeda, PharmD, assistant professor – practice of pharmacy practice and science at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, and a team of Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students provided vaccination and medication information to the conference’s attendees. 

Farm Science Review is an annual event hosted by the Ohio State College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CFAES). Each year, the event attracts over 100,000 visitors and features more than 500 exhibits. This year’s event took place Sept. 19-21 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, Ohio, west of Columbus.  

The College of Pharmacy’s outreach was made possible through a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant won by Dr. Shaw Ojeda in collaboration with OSU Extension and Texas A&M Extension. The grant aims to provide vaccine education and related toolkits to pharmacists, extension offices and the public in 15 rural counties by November 2024.  

Dr. Shaw Ojeda is also the director of pharmacy, extension and public health initiatives at the Ohio Pharmacists Association (OPA), where she advocates for bringing outreach and education to traditionally underserved areas. 

"It is my goal to be a key connector for pharmacists and students to meet the needs of our community,” she said.

While she has a lot of experience collaborating with health professionals in certain underserved areas, the Farm Science Review offered a space to interact directly with visitors. 

“A lot of my outreach is toward pharmacists who serve rural populations, but this is an event where we can reach out directly to farmers, their families and high schoolers interested in agricultural and veterinary sciences,” Dr. Shaw Ojeda said.  

Having a presence at such a significant community event can make a huge difference in the accessibility of health information. Rather than asking individuals to disrupt their regular routine to seek out medical information, experts like Dr. Shaw Ojeda and her students make themselves available in locations convenient to the patient. 

“Farm Science Review is unique because we are reaching out to these populations where they congregate instead of expecting them to come to us,” Dr. Shaw Ojeda said. 

Gashbeen Saeed, a first-year PharmD student, was amazed by the event’s attendance.  

“There were so many people there from all over the country, and we even had some participants from other countries,” she said. “It gives us a huge opportunity to reach people, especially since this event focused on those living in rural areas who may be underserved by vaccine education and other health care services.” 

Saeed was one of 10 students who assisted with the day’s activities. The students, ranging from first-year to third-year, quizzed visitors on vaccine topics including the safety of vaccinations, what demographics can get an HPV vaccine and more. After talking through the questions, Farm Science Review visitors could receive prizes and some additional insight into what their plan for health might look like. 

Second-year PharmD student Ronald Phillips reflected on how outreach offers learning experiences for the health care providers themselves.  

“I was blown away by how much older adults knew about vaccines compared to the younger population,” Phillips said. “We were able to interact with an individual who had witnessed the effects of polio in her community. Hearing her story opened my mind to how generations are still living who have experienced these viruses that we don’t regularly see as members of younger generations.” 

Phillips not only views outreach as a space to have unique interactions with visitors but thinks of it as an opportunity for health care professionals to check their biases by engaging with populations that they might not interact with on a regular basis.  

“I loved seeing people more involved in learning about their health care,” Phillips said. “People living in rural areas often suffer from the stereotype of not caring about health care or not understanding how vaccines work. I hope that the outreach we had at this event will lead to a greater focus on rural and underserved populations when moving health care forward.” 

Dr. Shaw Ojeda is always encouraged to see her students interact with attendees at events like Farm Science Review. 

“Our Columbus-based students are rightly busy and focused on the urban population here,” Dr. Shaw Ojeda said. “But the rest of rural Ohio needs them just as much. I see my students walking away with a more profound respect for our rural fellow Ohioans' role in this society.”