Ontario College of Pharmacists setting up a bursary in Jocelyn Whalen's name

Mar 09, 2022

There has been an outpouring of support in reaction to the devastating news that Jocelyn Whalen, who started up the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy in 1992 with her husband Nick, is in palliative care after developing cancer symptoms just a couple of months ago.

When some of her friends put the word out, many Sharbot Lake residents came by the Pharmacy to be recorded for a video of thanks, and others send cards, letters and emails.

A couple of pharmacists who knew Jocelyn from college days have stepped up to the plate as well.

Kitty Kerr, a pharmacist in Kingston, and another friend Jane Mulvahill, a pharmacist in Ottawa, both attended the college in the early 1980's with Jocelyn, and have remained in contact with her ever since.

“We are all devastated with the news, of course, and seeing how people have reacted in Sharbot Lake, through the video project that was organised to let Jocelyn know how people felt, we thought maybe we could do something. That's where the bursary idea came from,” said Kitty Kerr.

She has contacted the college to see what needed to be done to set one up, and that has already taken place, so the goal Kitty and Jane have set, is to raise $25,000, enough so that each year a student in need, attending the College of Pharmacists, will receive a $1,000 Jocelyn Whalen bursary.

“We talked to Nick and he talked to Jocelyn about it, and they both liked the idea and gave us the go-ahead,” she said.

Posters are going up this week at the Sharbot Lake Pharmasave and in other locations, as people are being invited to make donations to the bursary fund.

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