President's Desk: Jason Marker, MD, FAAFP

Thanks for checking out our latest blog post!  If you arrived here from the President’s Update email, thanks for that last click that led you here.  If you arrived by another means, we’re glad you’re here to get an update on the AAFP Foundation’s activities and encourage you to check us out on: website, Twitter, and Facebook.

What a winter!  While many philanthropic organizations are hibernating for the winter after the flurry of year-end activities that are typical of fundraising organizations, the Foundation revs into high-gear in January and February.

Mid-January is the so-called “Working Party” meeting.  This year held in Phoenix, it is a meeting of the 8 organizations that make up the “family” of Family Medicine. This year we had a very productive AAFP Foundation Officer’s Strategy Session to make sure we were all on the same page and working toward a clear common goal. We also participated in the broader conversation about the direction of Family Medicine as a specialty to make sure all of the organizations have a shared vision and are avoiding duplication of work.

At the end of the month was the annual Corporate Roundtable meeting.  Held in Clearwater, FL it brings together top leaders of the Foundation, AAFP and our many corporate partners from the medical industry for a 2-day exchange of ideas designed to keep us fresh with the latest updates in our respective areas.  This exchange allows us to work toward common goals.  It was a powerful two days that will help drive decisions for all the attendees in the future.  We truly appreciate our corporate partners  and continue to say thank you the past support.  For any corporate partners reading this, if you have additional feedback about anything you find on our website that you want more information about, please reach out to us.  We want your voice to be heard.

Family Medicine Cares has been a Signature Program of the Foundation for several years.  FMC USA is a grant program supporting free medical clinics around the country.  We treat every grant like it’s the first one we’ve done and we are so proud of the work being done by family docs around America.  In early February, Foundation Treasurer, Dr. Brent Smith visited our latest clinic in Meridian, Mississippi. 

The new organization Family Medicine for America’s Health is up and rolling.  A $22 million promise to America that we are committed to as a specialty.  I have the pleasure of serving with this group.  In fact, AAFP Foundation Past-President Dr. Jane Weida is on the Board of Directors.  As part of this initiative there is a national communications strategy which includes a unified strategic plan with specific action steps for revolutionizing the delivery of health care in the U.S. 

  

Finally, a word about Haiti.  At the end of February I was supposed to be giving a lecture to Haitian medical students about the value of primary care, but I wasn't there.  Why not?  Due to political unrest in Haiti, there has been an escalation of violence, demonstrations, road blockades and kidnappings in and around Port au Prince (our home base and leaping off point or everything we do in Haiti).  In high-level meetings between the Foundation staff leadership and the leadership of our in-country partner Heart to Heart International it was determined that our safety while in Haiti at that time could not be assured to everyone’s satisfaction.  The trip is currently postponed as we follow the events on the ground.  We are already making plans to reschedule when and if we can .  We are also considering our options for our ongoing faculty development commitment to their Family Medicine residency training programs.  We remain hopeful this will be a temporary pause in our work and that we can get back to it as soon as possible.  Thanks to all of you for your ongoing commitment to our Family Medicine Cares International initiative in Haiti.

Well, I think that’s all for now.  I will talk more in my next edition about plans for our Family Medicine Leads Emerging Leader Institute in the summer, about our upcoming Board meeting in May, and about ongoing changes in the field of Family Medicine.  I’m SURE the next blog post I write will happen without snow on the ground…I hope. 

Jason Marker, MD, MPA, FAAFP

President, AAFP Foundation

From the Desk of Brent Smith, MD:

It was my honor to award the 14^th Family Medicine Cares USA Grant to the Free Clinic of Meridian, located in Meridian, MS.  The Free Clinic of Meridian opened in November 2014, and is an example of a community engagement overcoming multiple obstacles.  It was a great experience getting to drive over and spend a few hours meeting some wonderful people and formally awarding them a much-deserved grant. 

We had a quick tour of the facility prior to the presentation.  You enter into the clinic into a fairly spacious waiting room.  They have four exam rooms, a conference room where patient education classes (e.g. diabetes, nutrition/diet and smoking cessation) and/or consultation takes place; in-take/out-take areas, and a nursing station. 

Lee Valentine, MD is the AAFP member who served as the applicant for the grant and is a board member and provider for the clinic.  Dr. Valentine is a family physician with over three decades of experience practicing in rural Mississippi, who just recently helped found a DO residency in Meridian (only the 4th Family Medicine residency in the state, and the 3^rd rural program.)  Interestingly, Dr. Valentine worked with two competing local hospitals to develop backing for the residency program, and that cooperation extends to the free clinic, which has financial backing and support from both the Rush Foundation Hospital and the Anderson Regional Medical Center.  In fact, the Free Clinic of Meridian is located in a building that is leased from one of the hospitals for $1 a year, and that hospital continues to pay the utilities.  Further, both hospitals have donated equipment and ancillary services to support the clinic. 

At the award ceremony, we also enjoyed meeting several board members, two of which deserve special recognition.  The Board President Brenda Hiatt and Vice-President Cathy Williamson are community members who have been instrumental in rallying the community behind the clinic.  The staff and providers for the clinic are all volunteers. Residents of the Meridian program area are already serving in the clinic, and medical students and nurse practitioner students are beginning to spend time there while rotating at the local hospitals.  The clinic provides primary care services, mental health counseling and assistance with engaging community social services. 

The grant is in the amount of $17,805 and is being used for much needed upgrades to donated equipment such as some very outdated exam tables.  It will also purchase a phlebotomy chair, which was described as “one of those things we never knew we would need until we got started.”   The clinic already has a waiting list of 3-4 months for new patients as a result of the high demand in the area.  Currently 300 patients are registered.  They are working to add new providers and volunteers to increase their hours of operation, which are currently 16-20 hours a week.

A news report of the Foundation’s visit can be found on WTOK- Channel 11 Meridian News Center website.