![\"Erica](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2019\/07\/Erica-Estus-1000x667.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Erica Estus
\nClinical Associate Professor of Pharmacy<\/p>\n
To hear Erica Estus talk about her career is to be reminded of that time in early childhood when you believed it was entirely possible to be a ballerina-firefighter-astronaut-mom.<\/p>\n
In Estus\u2019 case, she wanted to be a pharmacist and an educator. She also had an interest in geriatrics, having grown up next door to her grandparents, an experience she appreciated fully, then and now.<\/p>\n
So Estus, a 1996 graduate of äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾\u2019s Doctor of Pharmacy Program, became an award-winning pharmacist-teacher-researcher\u2014and also a mother and a yoga teacher. And she brings all this experience to bear in her teaching, working to improve communication between pharmacy students and the older adults they will one day serve.<\/p>\n
She does this through intergenerational experiential learning; specifically, she takes her students to a local senior living community, where they spend a lot of time with the residents throughout the year\u2014talking, doing activities, even putting on an annual \u201cSenior Prom.\u201d The idea, Estus says, is to expose students to experiences that can\u2019t be fully simulated in a classroom\u2014such as the challenges cognitive and physical decline pose for patients as they age. Experience with the patient population complements and expands upon the theories Estus teaches. \u201cSocial things\u2014like empathy\u2014you can\u2019t teach,\u201d Estus says. \u201cStudents have to experience those things themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
“We need more intergenerational communication to foster empathy and relationship-building.”
\n\u2014Erica Estus<\/p><\/blockquote>\nPharmacy students learn that the generations separating them from the seniors don\u2019t matter so much. \u201cThe typical observation made is how alike they are and how easy it is to communicate with one another,\u201d Estus says.<\/p>\n
The pace of a pharmacy can make a person feel stressed and rushed, Estus says. This can spill over into interactions between pharmacist and patron. Estus believes the more opportunities for students to communicate with the public, the better the future interactions will be for both parties. \u201cI think we need more of that intergenerational communication to foster empathy and relationship-building,\u201d she says. \u201cThere is more to it than just talking about medications and how they work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students find joy in realizing how much they can offer, and Estus finds happiness in watching her students discover new skills. \u201cI find that students are very motivated and intelligent. The more experience and exposure they have, the more they see the value in the service they\u2019re providing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad owned a pharmacy. I always wanted to be a pharmacist, but I also always wanted to be a teacher,\u201d Estus says. \u201cWhen the opportunity arose to combine both of my passions, I knew I had to pursue it.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I can\u2019t imagine doing anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Marybeth Reilly-McGreen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Erica Estus Clinical Associate Professor of Pharmacy To hear Erica Estus talk about her career is to be reminded of that time in early childhood when you believed it was entirely possible to be a ballerina-firefighter-astronaut-mom. In Estus\u2019 case, she wanted to be a pharmacist and an educator. She also had an interest in geriatrics, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[52,53],"class_list":["post-1844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-summer-2019","tag-erica-estus","tag-pharmacy","architecture-currents","architecture-why-i-teach"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1844"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2125,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844\/revisions\/2125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}