FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 13, 2016
Media Contacts:
Chad Clinton
Associate Director, Public Relations
American Pharmacists Association
(202) 429-7558
WASHINGTON, DC – The Alabama Pharmacy Association (APA) has selected Buddy Bunch, R.Ph., as the recipient of the 2016 Bowl of Hygeia Award for outstanding community service. Bunch was presented with the award at the APA 135th Annual Convention on June 13. The Bowl of Hygeia is sponsored by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation, the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations and the American Pharmacists Association with support from Boehringer Ingelheim.
Bunch graduated from Samford University in 1979. He began his career with Harco Drug and was a store manager for 18 years. Bunch opened Bunch Pharmacy in Guntersville, Alabama in 1997 and continues there today. He has been a member of APA for over 30 years and has served as Vice President and President. Bunch was appointed to the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy in 2013 and will serve thru 2017. He served on the Apple Foundation as President for the Guntersville schools and is Chairman of the Board for Guntersville Public Housing.
Bunch is a member of the First Baptist Church in Guntersville where he is an active deacon. He is passionate about pharmacy and continues to serve his profession in multiple ways.
Established in 1958, the Bowl of Hygeia Award recognizes pharmacists who possess outstanding records of civic leadership in their communities and encourages pharmacists to take active roles in the affairs of their respective communities. The award is presented annually by participating state pharmacist associations, including those in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In addition to service through their local, state and national pharmacy associations, award recipients have devoted their time, talent and resources to a wide variety of causes and community service.
The Bowl of Hygeia is the most widely recognized international symbol for the pharmacy profession and is considered one of the profession’s most prestigious awards. The Bowl of Hygeia has been associated with the pharmacy profession since as early as 1796 when the symbol was used on a coin minted for the Parisian Society of Pharmacy. The bowl represents a medicinal potion and the snake represents healing. Healing through medicine is precisely why the pharmacy profession has adopted the Bowl of Hygeia symbol.
About the American Pharmacists Association Foundation
The APhA Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., is a trusted source of research demonstrating how pharmacists can improve health care. The APhA Foundation’s mission is to improve people’s health through pharmacists’ patient care services. The APhA Foundation is affiliated with the American Pharmacists Association, the national professional society of pharmacists in the U.S. For more information, please visit the APhA Foundation website www.aphafoundation.org. Follow the APhA Foundation on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates.
About the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations
The National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA) promotes leadership, sharing, learning, and policy exchange among pharmacy leaders in all 50 states and Washington, DC, and provides education and advocacy to support pharmacists, patients, and communities working together to improve public health. NASPA was founded in 1927 as the National Council of State Pharmacy Association Executives (NCSPAE). For more information, please visit the NASPA Web site www.naspa.us.