GH Program Alum Eustace Orleans-Lindsay Wins OPA Award for Making an Impact Beyond the Pharmacy Counter

Global Health program graduate Eustace Orleans-Lindsay has been selected by the Ontario Pharmacists Association (OPA) as the recipient of the 2015 Pfizer Bowl of Hygeia – an award presented to a pharmacist on the basis of outstanding service to the community.

“By recognizing a need in his community, and using his expertise to help address that need, Eustace Orleans-Lindsay has set an outstanding example of how pharmacists can have an impact on their community beyond the pharmacy counter,” says Dennis Darby, CEO, OPA. “We are very pleased to be able to name him as this year’s Pfizer Bowl of Hygeia Award winner.”

In 2013, as a member of the Norfolk Health Equity Community Committee (NHECC), Orleans-Lindsay saw the need to help improve the health outcomes of the migrant farm workers in Norfolk County. Migrant farm workers – also known as seasonal agricultural workers – are entitled to health care under OHIP but face several barriers around access, including a lack of understanding of entitlements to heath care, lack of time and transportation, and a fear and mistrust of being returned home due to health issues.

To address some of these issues, Orleans-Lindsay liaised with Primacy Medical clinics and senior leadership at Loblaw Companies Limited, where he has been a managing pharmacist for various Ontario locations since 2004, to secure an empty medical clinic space within the Real Canadian Superstore in Simcoe.

?In May 2014, with funding from Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network (HNHB LHIN), Ontario’s first ever LHIN-funded migrant farm worker clinics opened in Simcoe and Delhi, run by the Grand River Community Health Centre, and in Virgil, run by Quest Community Health Centre.?

“I always emphasize the fact that you do not have to travel outside of Canada to practice global health,” says Orleans-Lindsay, who, in addition to his MSc in Global Health from McMaster, holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Science and Technology in Ghana.

“Many non-territorial identities exist within Canada, which enables a global health practitioner to think globally and act locally,” he says, “and as a pharmacist, being involved in a project that positively impacts the health outcomes of the migrant farm workers is very fulfilling.”

Orleans-Lindsay will accept his OPA award on Thursday, May 28, 2015, at the Canadian Pharmacists Conference Award Ceremony in Ottawa.

 Global Health News