We need your help to continue the good work of
Family Medicine in Haiti! 

Please consider making a donation after watching the following video and hearing first hand from our Delegates.

 

Donate today to support Family Medicine Cares International.

President's Desk: Jason Marker, MD, FAAFP

Heart to Heart International (HHI) recently held its inaugural Compassion Gala and selected the AAFP Foundation to receive its first "Heart for Humanity" award. During a very special evening, the Foundation was recognized before a sold-out crowd in Kansas City complete with a video featuring Dr. Dan and Ruth Ostergaard and Craig Doane as well as the leadership of HHI talking about the importance of this partnership.

The AAFP Foundation received this award because of our continued humanitarian efforts with HHI through Family Medicine Cares International and our disaster relief efforts.  

Family Medicine Cares International delivers patient care and provides medical education and resources for people in need around the world. Currently focused in Haiti, the program also works to improve the lives and health of children by providing essential personal, medical, and educational items to schools in this impoverished country.  Make sure to keep reading for more info.  Please consider helping to continue the good work of your AAFP Foundation in Haiti.

Disaster Relief is critical in times of crisis like the recent natural disaster in Nepal.  As people struggle to make their way out of such a devastating tragedy we are able to be part of the solution through our in-country partners like HHI and International Medical Corps.  Please consider being part of this effort with us and making a donation for disaster relief.

Below is a reprint of my acceptance remarks during the Compassion Gala:
 

Thank you!

The American Academy of Family Physicians represents over 120,000 family physicians, family medicine residents, and medical students. Each of these servant leaders has a heart for humanity and they live out that mission every day through the intimacy of the doctor-patient relationship - creating better health one patient visit at a time.

Family physicians know that the power of one encounter is the power to change a whole community, which can in turn change a whole state and ultimately improve the health of our whole nation.

The AAFP Foundation is whole-heartedly behind that domestic agenda and supports the development of free medical clinics in every state, creates opportunities for high-quality family medicine research and funds a myriad of student and resident programs.

Early in the history of the Foundation, however, we saw a need to help fulfill a deep yearning that many family physicians feel to reach outside our borders and to give from our abundance to help support those less endowed with medical resources than ourselves. Projects on that scale, when done well, require the right partnerships. Heart to Heart has been that long-term partner who, as Ms. Moritz stated a moment ago, has helped us make the impossible, possible.

Heart to Heart's model of sustainable support and your respect for the value of the existing local healthcare resources mirrors our own beliefs about medical missions. Additionally, the flexibility you've shown as we've tried to enlarge your vision of how the specialty of family medicine can impact another country's health delivery system is to be applauded.

Though some may still only know Heart to Heart as a rapid response disaster relief organization, the AAFP Foundation has been blessed to watch you develop a rich organizational understanding of the value of long-term relationships - relationships that are built one patient visit at a time. Relationships that can change whole nations of people. Relationships, and professional partnerships, that can improve the health of the world.

On behalf of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, the leaders and membership of the AAFP, Mr. Craig Doane our Executive Director, and our professional and capable support team led by Brenda Cherpitel and Erin Heffernan, I offer our sincere and humble "thank you" for this recognition of our work - a work we would not have wanted to do without you.

May God bless you and may God bless His work that our organizations will do together in the future.

Thank you again.

As if that didn't make for an exciting enough weekend, I was able to arrive in Kansas City with my wife in time to address the AAFP staff at the "Walk for the Children of Haiti" event. This annual fundraiser, done in conjunction with AAFP Wellness Committee activities, raised over $6,800 for our children's projects in Haiti! It is through donations like this that we were able to have the following achieved:

• Provided a much needed water pump for one of the schools so the children can access safe drinking water during school hours.
• Constructed a security fence around a primary school that helps keep the children safe.
• Painted walls and tiled floors at several schools.

Please consider helping us continue this work! 

I will depart for Kansas City on Thursday this week (my 3rd week in a row!) for our Foundation Board of Trustees meeting. I just bet I'll have some more exciting things to post on this site by the time that's over. Stay tuned!!

Jason

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

2013 Family Medicine Cares International Patient Care Team

(L to R) Drs. Julie Anderson, Kim Tjaden, and Denis Chagnon

(L to R) Drs. Michelle Jones, Ainee Ahmed, Dave Smith and Jacobo Rivero

The Patient Care Team took a few moments one morning to take a few quick photos before the group divided up to head out for the day.  Dr. David Smith reflected on his recent experience in Haiti, "My lasting recollection of the February 2013 FMCI delegation trip to Haiti will be that of two groups of people; the people of Haiti who we came to serve, and that of my fellow Patient Care Team members with whom I shared the entire experience."

Dr. Chagnon as the patient..

Dr. Chagnon took some time with the little boy in this photo after having diagnosed his mother with a previously unknown heart murmur and arranged for a cardiology evaluation.  Because of Dr. Chagnon's evaluation the mother was able to avoid hospitalization or worse.

When asked about his experience in Haiti he said it, "truly felt like I was making a difference in the lives of the people of Haiti on this remarkable life experience."

Dr. Smith examining a little boy.

Dr. Smith shared his experience about the people of Haiti and making a difference, "the people of Haiti were clearly in need of assistance, and very appreciative of what services were provided. They faced similar problems that patients face elsewhere in the tropics, but with a fraction of the resources. They do so without complaining, but with a spirit of optimism, acceptance, and gratitude. For some, we were the first physicians they had ever seen. Our Patient Care team was touched by their patience and resolve."

      

Dr. Jones examining a little girl.

Dr. Smith went on to say that, "As team members, we grew together in a manner I had not experienced since residency, decades ago, when faced with the need to practice in a very new, foreign and somewhat unsettling situation. We worked hard during the day at the clinics, and then would share our meals, clinic experiences, long dusty rides, and dormitory space in the evenings."

Dr. Anderson enjoying the kids after well-child exams.

  

Dr. Smith on the overall experience, "I have developed a desire to continue with this sort of medical mission work through Family Medicine Cares International/Heart to Heart International, and a deep appreciation for those physicians I had the pleasure of working with."

Dr. Chagnon on his experience, "The Medical volunteer experience in Haiti with FMCI and Heart to Heart International was a truly remarkable life experience."

Just the Beginning in Haiti

The AAFP Foundation's first Family Medicine Cares International Delegation recently returned from a week long trip to Haiti.  The group was hosted by in-country partner Heart to Heart International and the Delegation was divided into three teams: Patient Care, Service & Medical Education.

The Medical Education team held two symposiums across Haiti to provide specialized continuing education for Haitian doctors and healthcare providers. Their topic focused on cardiovascular disease.

One of those locations was in the historic city of Cap Haitien, on the country’s north coast. The symposium in Cap Haitien was documented by a journalist from the French-language Le Nouvelliste, Haiti’s oldest and largest daily newspaper.


Click the screengrab to the left to see the original article and to read it in French.
Or look below to read the article translated directly into English.

FOR A SURVEY OF THE LEVEL OF HEALTH IN HAITI
Le Nouvelliste | Publié le : 2013-02-06
by: Daphney Valsaint Malandre

Cap Haitien, Haiti — While the final preparations for organizing the carnival takes place in a city of Cap-Haïtien boosted, a group of Haitian and foreign doctors met at the training center of the Justinian Hospital for a symposium Monday, February 4, 2013 .

This activity falls within the framework of a project resulting from the agreement between Dr. Andre Vulcain, the “Project Haiti”, the American Academy of Family Physicians and Heart to Heart International. This project aims primarily to raise the level of health in Haiti while focusing on family medicine. Dr. Andre Vulcain, Haitian doctor, trained in Haiti but who have a specialization in family medicine at the University of Miami, working for the “Haiti Project”, a project of the School of Medicine of the University of Miami that supports Justinian Hospital for nearly 12 years.

Dr. Vulcan returns to Cap-Haitien regularly to provide support for training family physicians can take care of most health problems that may be present in a population. The “Haiti Project” has also helped the hospital develop a service family physicians and to develop a program of support for PV / HIV and a physical rehabilitation program. Their main goal is to assist existing entities and help them to build their capacity. To do this, they are backed by the American Academy of Family Physicians and the NGO Heart to Heart International.

The mission of the American Academy of Family Physicians in Haiti spans three phases. The organization of the Cap-Haitien symposium on cardiovascular disease in partnership with Dr Vulcan is the first. A second symposium will be held in Port-au-Prince Thursday, February 7. Meanwhile, a part of the team providing care to the needy in the area of Leogane while another is actively working in clinics and orphanages in neighborhoods like Bel Air.

Haiti has not been the first country to benefit from the assistance of these practitioners from the United States. These have indeed worked in many other underdeveloped countries. Heart to Heart International, a nongovernmental organization based in the United States, meanwhile, already working in Haiti for five years. The organization has shown, among others, has enough on Haitian soil immediately after the earthquake of 12 January 2010. At that time, there was talk of bringing first aid and provide necessary equipment. This time around, she wants to launch a new program that has already been proven in several Soviet countries for twenty years.

Heart to Heart International has already set up a permanent office in Haiti and several clinics in areas such as Leogane, Bel-Air and the south-east. A staff of about forty Haitians supported by foreign doctors ensure the proper functioning of these clinics. The organization is not only combined with other entities such as the American Academy of Family Physicians, but also with the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) to help Haitian doctors to become specialists in family medicine and increase the level of education of nurses.

These symposia which is attended by representatives of the American Academy of Family Physicians and Heart to Heart International and Dr. Andre Vulcain are in fact the beginnings of a project should extend the long term.