HPU Professor Secures $10,000 Grant
For Community Clinic of High Point
Dr. Jordan Smith, assistant professor and co-curricular coordinator in High Point University’s Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy, recently secured a $10,000 grant for the Community Clinic of High Point to administer influenza vaccines for the 2020-21 flu season.
HIGH POINT, N.C., July 29, 2020 – Dr. Jordan Smith, assistant professor and co-curricular coordinator in High Point University’s Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy, recently secured a grant for the Community Clinic of High Point to administer influenza vaccines to patients free of charge for the 2020-21 flu season.
The $10,000 grant was administered by the Guilford CARES Nonprofit Assistance Grant Program which was put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Smith applied for the grant when he learned it would supply aid to organizations that care for the most vulnerable members of the community.
This grant will allow the Community Clinic of High Point to vaccinate as many as 400 patients against influenza this year. It will also allow students and faculty to provide educational sessions and educational materials for patients to take home. These educational materials will provide information to Community Clinic patients on how to best prevent viral infections, including COVID-19, how to identify symptoms associated with these infections, and how to take care of themselves and their families should they become ill.
“This flu season stands to be unpredictable and difficult due to the pandemic, and we hope to do our best to keep our patients healthy,” says Smith. “Patients at the Community Clinic often have conditions such as diabetes, lung disease and cardiovascular disease, among others. Their conditions make them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 as well as influenza.”
Over the past two years, HPU faculty and students have partnered with the clinic to administer more than 300 flu vaccines. Funding for these vaccines was secured by the HPU student chapter of the American Pharmacists Association, as well as a joint grant from the Cornerstone Healthcare Foundation and the Northwest Area Health Education Center.
“We are so grateful for the staff at the Community Clinic for partnering with us and for all of our pharmacy students who have put in so much hard work to help our community,” says Smith. “We are fortunate to have such caring students and community partners.”
“I can’t thank Dr. Smith enough for his proactive efforts that help our Community Clinic patients,” says Molly Jordan, executive director of the Community Clinic of High Point. “His idea and subsequent completion and submission of the grant make our vaccine clinic possible this fall. I appreciate him and his students so very much and look forward to putting these dollars to good work.”