Pharmacist honored for ‘longstanding commitment’ to community

Rebecca Jones Sorrell, co-owner of Ritch’s Pharmacy in Mountain Brook, has long been known locally for her passion for community service.

In June, Sorrell received the coveted Bowl of Hygeia Award from the Alabama Pharmacy Association to honor her for that passion.

The Bowl of Hygeia is presented annually by pharmacy associations in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to honor recipients for their outstanding community service, according to the APA.

Sorrell was presented with the award at the annual APA convention, held this year in Destin, Florida.

She “leads a life of service to others” and has shown “a longstanding commitment to her community and those most in need,” said Louise Jones, APA chief executive officer.

The Bowl of Hygeia is the “highest award a pharmacist can achieve for outreach and service in their profession,” Sorrell told Village Living. “It’s like a goal. You’d like to be that good one day.”

“It was a true honor,” she said. “I was humbled.”

Sorrell owns and operates Ritch’s along with her husband, Ralph, also a pharmacist, but still finds time to serve others.

Sorrell and her husband regularly mentor pharmacy students, most from Samford University, at their store. “They’re the future of our profession,” she said.

She helped set up and coordinate pharmacy services for the M-Power Ministries Health Center in Avondale.

Sorrell also serves as the medical team leader for Canterbury United Methodist Church and United Methodist Volunteers in Missions in their regular mission trips to Panama.

For about 17 years, Canterbury has served the community of Cienaguita in the Chiriqui province in western Panama, with medical teams visiting four times a year.

Sorrell has taken part for several years, the last three as team leader.

She established a formulary, or list of needed drugs, for the pharmacy at the mission in  Cienaguita.

She also coordinates with teams from around the country to make sure the pharmacy continues to run efficiently.

Sorrel has traveled to Panama with the medical teams several times, the last in 2020.

Depending on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, she hopes to return in March 2022.

The Sorrells found another way to serve their community beginning in December, when Ritch’s became one of three independent pharmacies in Alabama chosen to participate in the distribution of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

This was gratifying, Sorrell said.

“We are so proud to be part of the solution,” she said, adding that being picked for the program was “an honor and a blessing.”

Sorrell graduated from the Auburn University School of Pharmacy in 1983.

She and her husband live in Pelham; have two adult children, Allen and Grace; and enjoy working together even after 35 years of marriage.

“We have a good marriage and a good personal life plan,” Sorrell said. “We make it work and we enjoy being together.”

She also enjoys her work and has no intention to retire.

“I just can’t imagine not doing what I do,” she said.

Sorrell will continue to seek to help others and to follow a motto once used by Canterbury UMC.

“Follow Jesus and serve others — that’s the bumper sticker on my car and that’s what I try to do,” she said.