Alia Marcinkow [B.Sc./08, B.Sc.(Pharm)/14] puts the “community” in community pharmacist.
The UM alum lives and works in Grandview, Man. – located west of Dauphin, about 360 km from Winnipeg – where she is an extremely active community member.
Marcinkow holds positions on 12 boards and committees in the town of just over 800 people – including chair of The Plain View weekly newspaper, chair of the Grandview and District Recreation Commission and secretary of St. Elias Ukrainian Catholic Church.
She helped to organize a Table for 200 event in town – a smaller version of Winnipeg’s Table for 1,200 dining experience. And she’s currently raising money to install a new ice plant at the local arena and curling rink.
Her community involvement, she says, is a way to give back to the town that warmly welcomed her 10 years ago as a newly graduated pharmacist.
“Grandview is such a vibrant place to live, and there are so many things to do here – it’s wonderful,” says Marcinkow, who grew up in Lockport, Man.
In recognition of the time and personal sacrifice she has devoted to her work at Grandview Pharmacy (the town’s only such business) and to the community, Marcinkow was honoured with Pharmacists Manitoba’s 2024 Bowl of Hygeia Award.
She was nominated by Grandview Pharmacy’s owner, Pierce Cairns [B.Sc.(Pharm)/09], who is himself a UM alum and past recipient of the award.
Cairns wanted to recognize Marcinkow as a champion for pharmacist-administered injections and smoking cessation initiatives, as well as for delivering education sessions at local senior centres and working to establish an opioid replacement program in the town.
Marcinkow says working in a rural setting allows her to really get to know her patients. “In a small town, you don’t just give patients medicine and send them on their way. You hear about their lives, what’s affecting them and how they’re feeling,” she says.
“What I love about being a pharmacist is being able to have that one-on-one with my patients.”
Recently, a patient came into Grandview Pharmacy with a rash that they’d been trying to treat themselves for months. Marcinkow asked them questions and sent them home with a cream for athlete’s foot. The patient returned, saying the treatment had worked and vowing to consult her more quickly if another ailment arose.
“I think that’s the most rewarding part – seeing your patients feeling better and succeeding,” she says.
Marcinkow earned her bachelor of science at UM and a bachelor of education at the University of Winnipeg before enrolling at UM’s College of Pharmacy.
“I really appreciated the pharmacy skills lab taught by an instructor, Nancy Kleiman,” she remembers. “I think the most valuable lesson she taught us was the importance of listening to your patients.
“She guided us on what questions to ask our patients, and how to take that information to provide the best possible care.”
Marcinkow’s graduating class was the first to learn to give injections. She used this skill as a COVID-19 vaccinator and currently administers shots such as prescribed vitamin B-12 and travel vaccines.
“I now make house calls to do injections, which might not happen in the big city,” she says.
BY MATTHEW KRUCHAK