Greetings! I just returned from MPA's Annual Convention and Exposition in Dearborn. It was nice to see many of you out there. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some highlights from the convention.

One of the main topics which the MPA focused on this year was getting their membership involved politically to strengthen the profession of pharmacy. They suggested identifying legislators (or potential legislators) in your district that you believe in and supporting them. Support can be as simple as sending them a $10 check to support their campaign or as involved as knocking on doors for them during the campaign season. If you are not comfortable supporting a legislator, please consider supporting MPA's Political Action Coalition (PAC).

Another highlight of the meeting was finding more preceptors and sites to become involved with training pharmacy students in their P-3 and P-4 years. WMSHP will be working closely with the Michigan Colleges of Pharmacy Experiential Programs (McPEP) group to assist them in identifying preceptors and sites in our region, as well as, supporting their current preceptors and sites. WMSHP has arranged for McPEP to give a presentation at our May 10th Spring Seminar in Grand Rapids. Please mark your calendars for this event.

Finally, I would like to inform you that Jesse Hogue, Fred Schmidt, and I served as your delegates to the MPA House of Delegates session. During the session, Laura Shaw, Chairman of Michigan's Board of Pharmacy, provided the House with a special report. She reminded us that Michigan's new continuing education (CE) standards (R 338.3041) were recently signed into law. For those of who are not aware of the new standards, starting July 1, 2007, pharmacists will be required to obtain 10 hours of live CE per renewal period, will be required complete one hour of CE in pain management, and will not be permitted to obtain more than 12 hours of CE per day. The new rules can be found at www.michigan.gov/healthlicense under the "Health Professional Administrative Rules" link.