SOUTH LAGUNA : Pharmacist Wins AIDS Work Award

A pharmacist at South Coast Medical Center will be honored in Washington Sunday for her efforts to enlist pharmacists in the battle against AIDS.

Rose M. Sparks, a Capistrano Beach resident who has worked at the South Laguna hospital for 10 years, is one of two people in the nation who will receive the American Pharmaceutical Assn. 1990 Merit Award.

Sparks, an active member of the Laguna Beach AIDS Education Task Force and a co-founder of the hospital’s AIDS committee, has worked to increase pharmacists’ awareness of the disease and to encourage them to play an active role in educating the public. Sparks recently persuaded the California Pharmaceutical Assn. to endorse the idea of supplying clean needles to intravenous drug users to halt the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Stan Molinari, director of cardiopulmonary services and chairman of the hospital’s AIDS committee, said Sparks has become a liaison between pharmacists and AIDS patients, support groups and hospitals.

“She sort of brought the whole pharmaceutical structure into that little loop,” Molinari said. “We’re just extremely proud of her.”

Sparks, who also serves on the board of Laguna Shanti, a Laguna Beach AIDS support group, said she became more involved in the fight against the disease as it spread in Laguna Beach. That city has the highest per capita incidence of AIDS in the county.

Sparks will leave for Washington Thursday. She said she hopes to meet former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who will be keynote speaker at the awards ceremony.