Each year, leading advocates, policymakers, and champions in the aging community gather in Washington, DC, to celebrate our collective efforts to enhance healthy aging. As we approach our annual Heroes in Health Celebration on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, we’re highlighting the remarkable work of past award honorees in this blog series.
Our 2023 Daniel Perry Founder’s Award recipient, Chad Worz , PharmD, BCGP, is a board-certified geriatric pharmacist and a relentless advocate for the medication management of older adults. As the Chief Executive Officer of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), Worz focuses his efforts on educating and serving nursing facility residents, nursing facility administrators, long-term care pharmacies, and the public through his comprehensive knowledge of medication use. Last year, we honored him with our Daniel Perry Founder’s Award for his work in shifting perspectives on aging and well-being as we age.
We caught up with Chad this summer to see how he’s doing and hear about his ongoing contributions to aging research:
What were your favorite moments from last year’s Heroes in Health ceremony?
There are so many. Anytime people convene to improve the lives of people as they age, the networking, the camaraderie, the lessons and the energy of moving things forward always stands out. Personally, meeting Sue and Stephen’s family was wonderful. They represent the loved ones we work so hard to protect.
How did being honored as our 2023 Daniel Perry Founder’s Award recipient impact you and your work?
Our team at ASCP has been through a whirlwind since COVID-19 and it struck our membership and the patients we care for directly. We have come a long way in the organization and our association with [The Alliance] has been a large part of building up our reputation and the work of our members. Validating that the work we do as a small but mighty organization representing pharmacists and pharmacies that serve our older adults has been a great feeling for staff and for our leadership.
What does it mean to be a Hero in Health?
Never stopping. We all work to improve the lives of older adults and the medically complex. We can’t stop moving issues forward. People can be swept away and left out of our health care system in ways they don’t always grasp. As advocates for them and practitioners striving to serve them, we cannot stop pushing that they receive the finest care as accessible and affordable as possible.
Tell us about the initiatives you’ve led since then?
Long term care pharmacists and pharmacies serve a unique niche in health care. Responsible for both the logistical and packaging efficiencies that support older adults and the navigation and management of their medications. We have pushed to ensure vaccines remain accessible and easy to administer for pharmacists, especially in assisted living and nursing home settings. We have also pressed for the advanced pharmacy services afforded to people in nursing homes are offered to people who chose to live at home. They need convenient medication packaging and a pharmacist involved in the management of their medications. Those services must be pushed beyond nursing homes to assisted living centers and to the home for those that need the support.
How has the recognition boosted your passion?
ASCP exudes passion for this work – we are mission driven; I am not sure “boost” is the right word. “Amplify” seems more in line with how we see this award. [The Alliance’s] recognition helps us amplify the collective mission of improving the lives of older adults and it is wind beneath our wings.
When you were a child, what did you imagine growing older would be like?
Whew. That’s a tough one because we tend to focus on what we have experienced. I had a great grandmother and grandmother in a nursing home. I remember the sensations of nursing homes in the 1980s and thinking I never wanted to be there. It subconsciously drove me to improve it. I think a lot has changed and continues to change. I think we have a lot to thank the greatest generation and the baby boomers for giving us the chance at improving things and demanding quality in all aspects of our culture. They hold us accountable to making aging a respected and natural process at the highest quality. I feel we are responsible to ensuring that quality.
What do you enjoy most about growing older now?
I think from the second I became a father, my perception of aging changed. I was no longer living in my moment; I was living in my children’s moments. Aging has to slow down as your energy pours into others – you take more time to witness their moments and appreciate where you are and not where you are going. I think my mission in pharmacy and in health care is similar. We work hard so others can witness moments – healthy, independent, and with clarity. Our work allows aging in place in ways that matter to people. That’s meaningful and makes growing older a joy.
Join us on Tuesday, September 24, 2024 at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, DC as we celebrate “Hope, Resilience, and Healthy Aging,” at our annual Heroes in Health Celebration. Registration is now open to purchase tickets. Sponsorships are also available. To learn more about awards dinner, visit our event page.
Be sure to read more interviews from past honorees such as our 2023 Silver innovator Award recipient Dr. Henry Buchwald.
