Tuesday, August 5, 2025

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• Your next great read: OHD is lending learning and development books to staff
• Remembering Dick Pullin

• Pharmacy alumni redesign patient care in Northern Ontario

Your next great read: OHD is lending learning and development books to staff

A message from Human Resources.

OHD (Organizational and Human Development) is opening its doors, and you're invited to come explore! Search our curated collection of learning and development books that are perfect if you're looking to dive into new learning materials, revisit keynote topics, or find new inspiration at OHD’s Lending Library drop-in event.

Make the journey to East Campus 1 (EC1) on the corner of Phillip and Columbia to flip through books on well-being, inclusion, leadership, time management, and more. Reconnect with colleagues across campus, enter a raffle for a conference keynote speaker book, and discover titles to share with your team or community.

Event details:

• EC1-1004 (OHD training room)
• Thursday, August 14
• Drop by between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Registration isn’t required, but it is encouraged so that you don’t forget to attend. Sign up on Portal to get helpful reminders! Questions about this opportunity can be directed to ohd@uwaterloo.ca.

Remembering Dick Pullin

Waterloo retiree Richard Andrew “Dick” Pullin passed away on July 16.

Pullin joined the University of Waterloo in 1970 after a career in the agricultural chemical industry. At the time, Waterloo’s Department of Co-ordination, the original name for the unit responsible for administering the program of co-operative education, was well on its way to being colloquially known as the "co-op department". He served as the Faculty of Science’s program administrator and built the team that supported the co-op program for Science students.

“We first met Dick and Jane Pullin through the Couples Club, an organization that brought many of the faculty, staff and their spouses together for a social time such as shared dinners,” recalls Distinguished Professor Emeritus Don Cowan, who at the time served as the chairman of the Computer Science department. “In those days we interacted with everyone in the Department of Co-operative Education on a regular basis to bring them up to date on students and curricula and have them discuss the job situation.”

Pullin also served as the president of the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education (CAFCE) from 1985 to 1986 and acted as program chair for the national association’s 1989 world conference. CAFCE grew in both size and complexity during Pullin’s tenure as president, establishing a national office with paid staff. He sat on the board of the US-based Cooperative Education Association for several years and served as its vice-president.

“Dick was a very calm presence,” Cowan recalls. "In all my years of knowing him he never lost his temper. He could tell a good story of his many visits to employers, but he was also a good listener. Dick was a people person and enjoyed working with the students and interacting with the employers. He just loved people."

Pullin also shared a love of cross-country skiing with a group of Waterloo faculty and staff members and their families that included Recreation and Leisure Studies professor Don Arnold, Mathematics professors Ronald Dunkley, Ron Scoins, and Don Cowan. The group dubbed themselves “WATSKI” and had regular get-togethers that involved several hours’ worth of skiing followed by a communal dinner in various locations in Ontario and Quebec, including Camp Tawingo, founded by Recreation and Leisure Studies professor Jack Pearse with his wife Helen.

“Dick was known as a bit of a daredevil on cross-country skis, so we nicknamed him 'Hilary' after Sir Edmund Hilary, the first person to climb Mount Everest,” Cowan recalls. “Even after we stopped the athletic activities and the group shrank, we would get together for social activities and meals at least once a month.”

In 1990, Pullin received the CAFCE Barber Award, which was itself named after pioneering Waterloo co-op administrator Bert Barber. The award recognized Pullin’s long-standing variety of service to the national association. In 1996 he received the Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada’s Volunteer Service Award, and in 1997 the Co-operative Education Association honoured him with the Herman Schneider Award, which is presented annually for “a significant and comprehensive record of contributions for the advancement of the philosophy and practice of cooperative education.”

“Dick Pullin was one of the driving forces that made Waterloo the largest co-operative education school in the world,” says Cowan. “He was also an accomplished award-winning winemaker, and I am still sampling his wonderful wines to this day.”

Pullin retired in July 1996 as part of the Special Early Retirement Program (SERP). After taking early retirement, Pullin developed an annotated bibliography and subject index for the Journal of Co-operative Education. He and his wife Jane volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and the Avon Trail.

“Dick was a gentle, caring person with a wonderful sense of humour, who built the structure for co-operative education for the Faculty of Science at the University of Waterloo, a legacy that lasts to this day,” says Cowan. 

 Pharmacy alumni redesign patient care in Northern Ontario

Sarah Zorzit and Logan Coccimiglio at iCcare Pharmacy, Sault Area Hospital. Photo credit: Sault Area Hospital.

This article was originally published on the School of Pharmacy website.

In a time when accessible healthcare is more critical than ever— especially in Northern communities where medical resources are scarce— University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy alumni are tackling this challenge with innovative ideas.

When Sarah Zorzit (Rx2014) was first hired to further guide the development of and operationalize an outpatient retail oncology pharmacy at Sault Area Hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (about 700 kilometers north of Toronto), her team started serving patients from a 200 square foot ancillary space adjacent to the inpatient pharmacy in the hospital.

The iCcare Pharmacy was developed in response to a clearly identified gap in care for oncology patients at Sault Area Hospital — the need for a dedicated outpatient pharmacy. A business case was put forward by Sault Area Hospital pharmacists, including University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy alumni Andrew Haddy (Rx2012) and Alison Hemy (Rx2012), outlining the clinical and operational benefits of establishing such a service. With support from the Hospital, and a team that included Waterloo Pharmacy alumni Jillian Grocholsky (Rx2012) and Aaron Cuthbertson (Rx2015), Zorzit opened the pharmacy in 2017.

“At the time we were only dispensing oral chemotherapy therapeutics, but we always had a vision to practice to our full scope – to support patients who are experiencing the most difficult time of their lives,” says Zorzit.

The vision became reality in 2022, when the pharmacy moved from its modest beginnings to their current location across from the Algoma District Cancer Clinic. Now the designated manager, Zorzit leads a small but impactful team serving patients from Sault Ste. Marie and the surrounding area, from Blind River to Wawa.

“It’s incredibly rewarding to work in a pharmacy that is hospital owned,” Zorzit says. “Our outpatients reap the benefits while all the revenue comes back to the hospital operations to support the healthcare system as a whole in our community.”

The pharmacy has several services they offer to their patients, including a pharmacist-led immunization clinic where they optimize patient vaccinations before they start immunosuppressive therapy, ensuring patients’ immunizations are up to date and that they have the necessary antibodies before they’re immunosuppressed.

“We were inspired by a publication from the American Association of Clinical Oncology journal last fall that highlighted all vaccines patients should have before starting cancer treatment,” says Zorzit. Our pharmacists, alongside Waterloo Pharmacy co-op and fourth year patient care rotations students, now administer those vaccines two to four weeks before patients start chemotherapy to avoid preventable deaths and hospital admissions.”

The pharmacists monitor every oral chemotherapy patient’s bloodwork and medications, looking for any abnormal lab values and providing oral chemotherapy education. Patients receive tailored care and direct intervention by a pharmacist each month.

The pharmacy contains a counselling room and an over-the-counter dispensing area where the pharmacy team prepares individualized pre-medications for every outpatient, providing them with medication guidance. Each patient receives a calendar to follow, relieving them from the responsibility of managing their treatment schedule. Oral chemotherapy patients are contacted for a follow-up call one week after initiating treatment, undergo a physical assessment by the nursing team at the two-week mark, and participate in monthly consultations with both a pharmacist and their oncologist, with additional access to cancer supportive care and mental health services.

“Our retail pharmacy is deeply integrated with the cancer clinic, both physically and through close interdisciplinary collaboration. Patients appreciate that we’re present during their visits and that we coordinate their pharmacy care to align seamlessly with their treatment schedules allowing them to receive comprehensive support in one visit,” says Zorzit.