Groundwork laid for pharmacy school

Art Nadler

Monday, June 8, 1998 | 10:20 a.m.

Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., has opened an administrative recruitment office in Las Vegas.

The move represents a preliminary commitment toward establishing the first school of pharmacy in Nevada, university officials said.

Administrators, with offices located at 2080 E. Flamingo Road, Suite 211, are currently accepting applications for enrollment into Western University's pharmacy school and physician assistant program.

Pharmacy majors will complete two years of classroom training in Pomona and finish their remaining two years of clinical rotation at pharmacies and hospitals in Las Vegas.

Western University is planning to have classrooms and faculty in place in Las Vegas by the year 2000, Spokesman Hoyt Smith said.

"Nevada is one of the few states in the nation that doesn't have a school of pharmacy," Keith Macdonald, executive secretary of the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy, said. "I think this is a very positive thing for our state. It will be a great asset."

There are currently about 1,400 licensed pharmacists in Nevada. Southern Nevada's rapid growth has created a severe shortage, Macdonald said.

"There are more than 300 pharmacies in Nevada and 36 in hospitals," Macdonald said. "We license between 20 and 30 new pharmacies each year, and there are a minimum of two pharmacists in each one."

The school should help recruit pharmacists to the Las Vegas area. Local people who enroll tend to remain in the community once they complete their training, said Diana Bond, director of pharmacy at University Medical Center Hospital.

"I think having an education facility present in a community also helps with the overall image of the area," Bond said. "People (not in the medical field) want to live where professional schools are located."

Western University is a non-profit, accredited and independent health center. It was founded in 1977 as the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific.