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How to Create a Provider Status Wall

Contributed by Danielle Beltz, ASHP Policy and Legislative Advocacy Advisory Group Member and Melody Smith, ASHP Student Society Advisory Group Member

Northeast Ohio Medical University Pharmacy Class of 2016 

Why a wall?

Nothing brings awareness like displaying a huge wall that students, faculty and professionals can sign with their own reasons to support pharmacy provider status.  Inspired by the “Before I Die” walls that invite individuals to detail important bucket list items, we invited students and faculty to express advocacy for pharmacy provider status.  We chose to unveil our wall during a student-led advocacy training seminar at the close of a week-long event to promote the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI).  We invited other professional groups on campus to join us in support and sign the wall. To our delight, faculty, students and staff all joined in signing the wall.  Our wall consists of portable, light-weight panels that can be propped against any wall without damaging it.  Once your chapter has created your wall, display it in a location that targets your desired audience.  Our wall was relocated from one end of our campus to the other and is still going strong.   Consider relocating it to your state affiliate for meetings or sharing it with another campus!

Our wall is currently featured on our state affiliate Ohio Society of Health-System Pharmacists website. http://www.ohioshp.org

After you make your wall, don’t forget to publicize it and invite other organizations to join in!  People will wonder what this big wall is all about, so it helps to display a poster near the wall to explain the wall’s purpose. If you would like an electronic copy of our poster that describes the purpose of the wall, or need any assistance, please email us at dbeltz@neomed.edu or msmith12@neomed.edu. Be sure to include a basket of dry erase markers nearby for participants to get creative with their responses and support!  

Construction Details:

Finished wall measurements:  12’ wide x 8’ tall (three panels: each panel is 4’ wide x 8’ tall)

Total cost of our wall $410 including rush stencils.  The cost would be about $360 without rush delivery for the stencils.

You may be able to lower the cost by creating your own stencils.

Materials List:

White board wall panels from home store QTY 3

Insulation wall panels from home store QTY 3 

Water based adhesive to secure whiteboard panels to insulation backing*

*Lowes was happy to glue each foam insulation panel to the back of the whiteboard panels for us.  If you choose to do it yourself, you may  

  carefully align the panels and glue them together with a water-based cement.  We picked the finished panels up with a minivan and  

  transported to the school for the stenciling process.

Four cans of spray paint (two of each color)

Painters tape, three plastic tarps

You can make your own or buy pre-cut stencils online.  We purchased them from http://www.stencilsonline.com and rushed the delivery in order to have the wall done in time for PPMI week. Per the website: “Standard shipping orders typically ship out within 1-3 business days of your approval for custom stencil orders.”

You will need an area with ventilation for painting.  Carefully secure the stencils with tape and spray paint each section.  We recommend 20 minutes of dry time before moving the stencil to the next section.

Warning: This part has all the excitement inherent in watching paint dry.  Luckily our ASHP mentor, Dr. Jaclyn Boyle, arrived with coffee to help liven up the process!  It also helps if you have someone artistic on your team!  Since Danielle is craft-challenged, she felt quite lucky to have Melody Smith and Frances Fu on the construction team!

NEOMED SSHP wishes to thank ASHP Mentor Dr. Jaclyn Boyle, SSHP Faculty Advisor Dr. Dale English, and NEOMED PR Rebecca Verlezza for their support and contribution to the project.