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.  

President's Desk: Jason Marker, MD, FAAFP

Welcome to my first blog post as your 2015 President of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation! Some of you just got here from a link in an email about a “President’s Update” – thanks for following that link. Others of you found your way here on your own. Either way, I am pleased to share some brief information about what I see shaping up for 2015.

First off, social media. Here is the information you need about accessing our Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Please “like us” and follow these sites as they will be updated regularly (but I promise not obsessively) throughout the year with information about the Foundation and my activities on its behalf. We have accounts with Instagram and others (even a Foundation Pintrest account!) but I’m over-the-hill technologically speaking (I’m turning 44 this year!) and better stick to the basics. Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Picasa

For longer exchanges of information, I’ll be using this blog, though we’ll let you know about new posts with a link from an email. If you want to be added to this email list let us know.

As we start the year I want to lay out in broad brush strokes what I think will be the highlights of 2015. There are several, so here they are in tabular form:

• Corporate Roundtable event has been specifically redesigned with corporate feedback in mind to better achieve the goals of information-sharing with these critical partners.
• Our third Family Medicine Cares International trip to Haiti in February (February 21-28) is packed with attendees and will build on past work of community service, patient care, and educational support for that country’s four medical schools and two family medicine residencies.
• We will be launching our super-awesome, action-packed, all-new, this-ain’t-your-grandfather’s, Family Medicine Leads Emerging Leader Institute in the summer. This conference wants to be an innovative two-day leadership skills event, immersing hand-picked medical students and Family Medicine residents in a high-end experience-based opportunity to create new leaders for our specialty. Family Medicine needs more than just a broader pipeline of new physicians, we need a more expansive “leadership pipeline” of creative thinkers - Emerging Leaders who aren’t just thinking outside the box, but who think in ways that ignore that a box ever existed.
• The Foundation will have a robust presence at the first redesigned AAFP annual event, now called the Family Medicine Experience (FMX). This September 29 - October 3 in Denver launches FMX and the Foundation will be found worthy of a place at the table of this new model of “annual meeting”. I’ll hope to see you there.
• The AAFP Foundation will continue its strong leadership within Family Medicine for America’s Health (FMAH) – a strategic plan and communications program for our specialty. AAFP Foundation representatives can be found at all levels of this new entity whose aim is to “re-present” Family Medicine to America as the “must-have” vehicle for better health and as the only possible solution to the ills of the US Healthcare system. I’ll make sure you hear lots more about this as the year progresses.

Well, that’s probably enough for now. My goal is to keep you up-to-date with information about our Foundation and to hope that a tiny bit of my excitement about our future as a specialty rubs off on you. Don’t forget to connect with us on your favorite social media platform! Blessings for a meaningful new year…

Jason Marker, MD, MPA, FAAFP
AAFP President
Private Practice Physician, Wyatt, IN

It all begins with a foundation – A home. A school. An office. Even Family Medicine.

You can’t build any of these structures without first building a foundation, just like Family Medicine can’t stand on its own without strong support.

The AAFP Annual Fund is the foundation of Family Medicine. With your donation, the Foundation can provide more than 20 humanitarian, scientific, and educational initiatives with the support they need to stand firm.  

For example, the AAFP Foundation’s humanitarian program Family Medicine Cares USA supports the start-up efforts of new free health clinics around the United States through grants and volunteer efforts. Since the program began in April 2011, more than $70,000 has been provided to help open doors for four new clinics. Family Medicine Cares International delivers patient care and provides medical resources for underserved populations in need around the world, with initial focus on Haiti.

Your donations have also helped us build a foundation for research. During the past 18 months, the Foundation has funded more than $306,000 in support of research efforts with the Joint Grant Awards Program (JGAP) and Research Stimulation and Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN) Stimulation Grants.

The Foundation was able to provide more scholarships to medical students and residents last year than ever before to attend the AAFP National Conference of Family Medicine Resident and Medical Students. Because of your increasing support, we’re building a foundation for the Future of Family Medicine one scholarship at a time.

Nothing can exist without a foundation. Let’s continue to build one for Family Medicine. Make a contribution to the Annual Fund.

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."

2013 FMCI Annual Delegation

Medical Education Team

The Medical Education team spent seven days in Haiti working to directly impact the future of family medicine. The Medical Education team held a day-long symposium in two locations, one in Cap Haitien and one in Port au Prince, to provide specialized continuing education for Haitian doctors and health care providers. The symposium topics focused on cardiovascular disease. The team also held meetings with the two family medicine residency programs in Haiti, the Deans of the four medical schools in Haiti, the Ministry of Health (MSPP), and the U.S. Embassy to discuss the future of Family Medicine. The Medical Education team consisted of the following family physicians and AAFP members (pictured with Dr. Andre Vulcain of the Haiti Project):

• Dr. Mary Jo Welker – Delegation Lead, AAFP Foundation President
• Dr. Anna Doubeni
• Dr. Laura Knobel
• Dr. Evelyn Lewis&Clark – AAFP Foundation Board Trustee
• Dr. William Markle
• Dr. Jane Weida – AAFP Foundation Vice President

Brenda Cherpitel of the AAFP Foundation served as Staff Lead for the Medical Education team and the Family Medicine Cares International program.

Patient Care Team

The Patient Care team spent their time in Haiti treating more than 600 patients from two weeks to 92 years of age. They worked at five different clinics and an orphanage throughout the region and saw a number of conditions. They were able to see over 100 children one of the days for well-child exams. This is not something that normally happens in Haiti and was considered very rewarding for all involved. The physicians were able to treat a number of patients that had been seen previously at the clinics and were impressed by the continuity of care that they were able to achieve in such remote locations. The Patient Care team consisted of the following family physicians and AAFP members:

•  Dr. Ainee Ahmed
• Dr. Julie Anderson
• Dr. Denis Chagnon
• Dr. Michelle Jones – AAFP Foundation Board Trustee
• Dr. Jacobo Rivero
• Dr. Dave Smith
• Dr. Kimberly Tjaden 

Service Team

The Service Team spent their time in Haiti giving back to its smallest voices at the Rose Mina Orphanage and the Fondwa Orphange and School. While they were working at Rose Mina they were able to paint the facility a cheerful yellow, inspect the recently completed dining room and renovated bathrooms funded by the AAFP Foundation, provide food, vitamins and other basic necessities to the children. The entire Delegation hosted a lunch and party for the children with treat bags, balloons, soccer balls, and fun all around!

The Service Team also drove to Fondwa Orphanage and School to visit the children, deliver clothing and soccer balls, and see the kitchen renovation project which was funded by the AAFP Staff.

This group also helped out at the Bel Air Clinic by completing improvements to the clinic facilities such as painting and staining the remodeled triage area, the new enclosed pharmacy area, and improved bathroom facilities. All projects were funded by the AAFP Foundation. The Service Team consisted of the following individuals:

• Lloyd Welker – Volunteer Lead
• Douglas MacLean, CEO, Pharmavite
• Haley Maclean
• Taylor MacLean
• Christen Moburg, Associate Director, Advocacy, MedImmune
• Karen Smith

Lori Foley of the AAFP Foundation served as Staff Lead for the Team.

  

Make a Donation

If you would like to be part of this rewarding work in Haiti, please consider making a donation. Through your donation to Family Medicine Cares International, you are making a difference in helping those in need, at home and around the world.

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.