Photo By Stephanie Abdullah | Army Spc. Ciarra Upchurch, assigned to the Bassett Army Community Hospital (BACH) at...... read more read more
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National Harbor, Md. (Feb. 14, 2023) -- Army Spc. Ciarra Upchurch, assigned to the Bassett Army Community Hospital (BACH) at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, said that she couldn’t believe that she was being chosen to receive the William Gorgas Preventive Medicine Award. The Society of Federal Health Professionals (AMSUS) gives the award to recognize an individual for distinguished work in preventive medicine in clinical application, education, or research. The previous recipient was a Colonel.
“I’m really happy my hard work paid off,” said Upchurch, who works as a Pharmacy Technician at the hospital. “I looked up AMSUS and saw that I’d be in the room with these generals, officers, and the people who make [U.S. Army Medical Command] what it is and it’s surreal. I’m literally flying all the way across the world to receive an award that the person [who received it] before me was a colonel.”
Upchurch graduated high school in May 2019, and by the end of the year, she had joined the Army. She really wanted to work as a pharmacy technician. While she hadn’t considered the Army, a chance encounter with a recruiter changed her life.
“He was talking to my cousin about getting her to join, but she had already sworn into the Marine Corps,” said Upchurch. “I told myself that I would not join the military unless they were able to sign me up for a job, as a pharmacy specialist because at the time I wanted to be a pharmacist.”
Not only was the recruiter able to assure her that she could become a pharmacy technician, he also explained that she’d be able to go to school and become nationally certified. Her first duty station was in Alaska. She explained she thought her life was over having to go so far away from home.
Her life wasn’t over. She persevered through the COVID-19 pandemic, met her current husband, and is now being honored by AMSUS.
In 2021, Upchurch was a part of a special COVID-19 mission to Miami, Florida. She helped developed processes to ensure proper flow for COVID vaccination of local civilians and military personnel.
“It was hot,” said Upchurch. “We were open seven days a week and we were there from early in the morning until 6:00 o'clock in the evening and people just kept coming and coming and they stood there all day until they were seen. It was a good experience and it’s good to have that knowledge in the back of my head in case something else like that happens. We’ll know what to do.”
At the hospital she is the vault technician which means she oversees the processes for distributing, ordering, filling, and dispensing controlled substance prescriptions. All of the controlled substances are kept in the vault and Upchurch holds the keys.
It was the Narcan Program that put her on the radar of AMSUS. Narcan is an opioid reversal agent, that comes in the form of nasal spray. If a person were to overdose on an opioid, Narcan can be administered. It comes in two sprays. After the first is given or taken, you call 911. If the person remains unresponsive, they can take or be given the second spray. The Narcan spray reverses the effects of the opioids that a person has taken, to save their life.
Upchurch helped BACH determine the most effective way to capture all of its high-risk patients in order to ensure that each one was distributed Narcan to have on hand in the event of a life-threatening situation.
She recommended to her leader that they screen patients at the window. That real time screening would give the most accurate and timely results. It would also give pharmacy staff the opportunity to fill the Narcan prescription immediately and not have to have the patient wait to receive one later. While her leader was not confident that this would help, she promised him it would work, and he looked into it. He returned to her later and told her that Kentucky was using the same screening procedure to ensure they capture all their high-risk patients and their numbers had skyrocketed. He agreed that it must be a good idea and approved the implementation at BACH. The number of high-risk patients they were identifying using this process increased and now the method is fully in-motion.
“Every patient gets screened and if their score is what we're looking at and the number that tells us they need one, then they're going to get one,” said Upchurch. “We try to explain to them that it's something that was put into place to help save lives. We're not necessarily saying that they’re going to overdose, but even if you see somebody that has overdosed and you have that on you, you can potentially save a life and give that person a second chance. We're trying to save more lives and keep people from overdosing.”
Upchurch, a Denver, Colorado native, is now in a dual military home. She met her spouse in Alaska and they are newlyweds. She plans to start a family and eventually transition into nursing.
AMSUS gives out its awards annually during its annual meeting, which is held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center on the National Harbor in Maryland.
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| Date Taken: | 02.15.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 02.15.2023 14:44 |
| Story ID: | 438556 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 344 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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