WVPA’s coveted award honoring a pharmacist for their contributions to the profession, the Dr. James H. Beal Award, will be presented Dennis Lewis of Chapmanville at the 108th Annual Convention, October 17, at Stonewall Resort WVPA President Krista Capehart will present the Award during the Installation and Awards Dinner.
The Beal Award is the highest honor given a member of WVPA. It is in memory of Dr. James H. Beal, who came to West Virginia in 1906 and took it upon himself to form of the-then West Virginia Pharmaceutical Association. He drafted the first WV Pharmacy Practice Act, as well as the narcotic and poison laws.
A 1977 graduate of WVU School of Pharmacy, Dennis began his professional career by operating a small respiratory service from his home in 1981. Wanting to expand, in 1984 he established Health Care Pharmacy – a retail apothecary pharmacy and durable medical equipment facility.
Continuing his healthcare knowledge, Dennis established Nursing Care Home Health in 1986 to provide home health services. He then created Dignity Hospice of Southern West Virginia, Inc., in 1994 to care for terminally ill patients. Dignity Hospice has since expanded into Dignity Hospice and Home Health and now services over 160 patients daily. Dignity will soon begin construction of an eight bed inpatient hospice unit to further serve the needs of the Champmanville, Logan Country communities.
Among the awards and recognition relating to professional and community services, Dennis received the Ernest & Young CPA firm’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1993 and was recognized nationally in November 1994 by Pharmacy Times in its published article entitled “Home Health Care Expands in Small Town America.”
A Past President of WVPA, Dennis received the Innovative Pharmacy Practice Award in 1995, Merck Community Service Award for West Virginia in 2005, West Virginia Pharmacy Leadership Award in 2006, and the Bowl of Hygeia Award in 2009. He was selected as a member of the WVU School of Pharmacy’s Centennial Hall of Fame in 2014.
Since 2006 Dennis has served as Pharmacy Liaison to West Virginia’ Medicaid’s Medical Services Fund Advisory Council, and in 2013 began serving on the Continuing Pharmacy Education Committee of the Board of Pharmacy. Dennis’s career has great emphasis on taking care of patients in their homes.
He was ordained a Southern Baptist Minister in 2003 and served with the World Help Organization as Missionary Ambassador to Eastern Bloc Russian counties. He is a Deacon of Calvary Baptist Church in his home town of Chapmanville.
Dennis and his wife, Dorothy, have three children — Danielle, David and Drew. Danielle earned a degree in Occupational Therapy from Eastern Kentucky University. David is attending Marshall University Medical School and Drew earned a Master’s Degree in Health Care Administration from Marshall University. They are the proud grandparents of eight grandsons.
