The white lab coat becomes heavier when you put it on, bearing with it the weight of a whole profession as it rests on your shoulders. Being a PharmD student working in a busy community pharmacy, these shoulders are getting stronger each day I inch toward becoming a pharmacist.

I am grateful to be a part of pandemic-born initiatives such as COVID-19 testing, virtual MedsChecks and A1C point of care testing, and hope to see myself victoriously injecting the COVID-19 vaccine soon like we safely did with the influenza vaccine. Nonetheless, I am continuously humbled by our patients’ gratitude for simply being open and available to talk.

I believe it is through these times of adversity inflicted by the pandemic that allows pharmacies to demonstrate their resilience. Ironically, I would say that pharmacies are just what the doctor ordered to help hold together a strained healthcare system infected with COVID-19; dosed daily, mitte 365 days with infinite repeats!

To the pharmacists working in industry, hospital and community, I speak on behalf of my classmates and myself when I say that it is an honour to put on the symbolic white lab coat and embody with you the future of a resilient pharmacy profession.