Eunice native to speak Sunday

The city of Eunice invites the public to a festival parade, program and an exhibit, “Black Women Against the Odds,” on Sunday.
The keynote speaker and parade marshal will be a Eunice native Col. Gwendolyn Hebert Thompson.
There will be a parade beginning at the Southeast Center at 2 p.m. and will conclude at the Liberty Theater with a program at 3 p.m. Afterwards the City Hall lobby will have an exhibit of Black Women Achievement Against the Odds.
Thompson, a Eunice native, is a 1975 Eunice High graduate. She joined the U.S. Army in June 1975, and has served nearly 37 years. She is currently a colonel at Brooke Army Medical Center at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. She serves as chief, department of pharmacy, at the base.
After her basic training, Thompson’s first assignment was at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, as a E1, food service specialist.
Thompson is the daughter of the late Lorris J. Hebert Sr. and Gustavia F. Hebert of Eunice. She has been married to Donovan A. Thompson of Kingston, Jamaica, for 34 years and is the mother of Joshua Thompson, 21, and Sarah Thompson, 15, of San Antonio.
Thompson is making plans to retire in November, and when asked what’s next, she said, “Relax!” with a smile.
She has served in a variety of assignments at pharmacies throughout the Army in the United States, Germany and Iraq.
Thompson has a doctor of pharmacy degree, pharmacy practice residency, and is a Board-certified pharmacotherapy specialist. She was awarded for the Proficiency Designator by the Army for her acumen as a clinical pharmacist and was also awarded a Designator as a strategist.
Her accomplishments are endless, and many “firsts” in her field included, starting the first pharmachist-run clinic in disease state management for asthma, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, tobacco cessation, and anti-coagulation at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center in Ft. Hood, Texas.
She has landed and set a sponsorship of the first Army Pharmacy Study grant ever received, the High Performance Pharmacy. This is a study project entailing extensive research, surveys, and site visits to various military medical clinics and centers to determine the best pharmacy practices and challenges within.
While Thompson has accomplished much in her career, her most meaningful experience was during her deployment to Iraq at the Army’s largest combat hospital.
She said, “It was rewarding, and emotional time to be right at the front lines. Every minute of every day I was able to do what I was meant to do, and that is to help soldiers heal from their injuries. I was most pleased with helping the oppressed people and I had the opportunity to witness to those about God.”
Thompson added, “I felt we were making a difference with our Iraqi counterparts, who would come in to learn more about the latest developments in different medications.”
Thompson was selected as one of the three finalists during the 2011 Next Generation Pharmacist Awards Military Pharmacist of the Year, which was held in Boston.