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Dear Friend,
AMM is delighted to report to you on our recent experience with Community Health Workers (CHWs). CHWs were critical to recovery from the pandemic and AMM is now one of the first clinics in NC to add them to the clinic care regimen. Our holistic care health model allows us to treat the whole person, not just the illness, but the whole being. Chronic disease is a manifestation of everything else going on in a person's life. As you will see, our CHWs work hard to eliminate barriers to a person's health and work closely with our Director of Social Work Services to understand the challenges our patients face. Our people centered approach leverages our proximity to Southeast Raleigh, one of the poorest areas in our community.
We are able to do this because of our partnership with the Avantor Foundation and we are grateful for their support and positive impact on our community.
Sincerely,
Pete Tannenbaum, AMM Executive Director
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Our CHWs are an integral part of our whole-person care model. Thank you Avantor Foundation for enabling AMM to extend its services to patients in their homes and communities.
The decision to integrate CHWs into the clinic was based, in part, on the profession’s Core Competencies as set by the North Carolina Community Health Worker Association. These competencies are what make a CHW invaluable to AMM’s underserved patient population that face, often times, multiple barriers to physical and mental health. Having 2 CHWs integrated into the clinic allow for more patients to access resources as compared to AMM previously just having one social worker for over 2,000 patients each with unique barriers to health.
As described by one of the CHWs, AMM patients are in “survival mode and are juggling multiple life crises while trying to maintain their health.”
A few real examples AMM patients' barriers to health:
1) A patient referred by one of our behavioral health counselors is a single mother of 4 children who works two jobs. One of the children married the stepfather after becoming pregnant at age 15. The CHWs have helped the AMM patient file for child support with social services, have assisted with food support due to SNAP and DHHS being 3 months behind in processing applications, and have remained in close contact with the patient. The behavioral health counselor has noted improvement in the patient.
2) Our Spanish-speaking CHW advocated on behalf of a patient who was having communication (language) issues between her son and the son’s school since the patient does not speak English fluently. This communication issue was a source of great stress for the patient and the CHW attended a parent-teacher conference and helped interpret and advocate for enhanced services for the patient’s son. This reduced the patient’s stress. Prolonged exposure to stress has been clearly linked to negative health outcomes
3) Our CHWs have been teaching many patients how to use the City of Raleigh bus system which helps them get to jobs and AMM appointments. Some AMM patients are physically unable to use the fixed route bus system. In these particular cases, they have connected the patient with GoRaleigh, a special paratransit services so they can receive door-door transportation to and from their appointments.
4) In another case, the CHW reached out to a new patient scheduled to see a provider in 6 weeks. Food insecurity was identified during the call and the CHW made a food and household goods drop at the patient’s home, well in advance of seeing the AMM provider – decreasing the chance of a no-show.
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Have you ever heard of a MedServe Fellow? MedServe Fellows are recent college graduates who have completed a pre-medical curriculum and are taking time off before medical school. Fellows spend two years as full-time, active helpers in the clinic. There are many different partners for MedServe Fellows and Alliance Medical Ministry (AMM) is proud to be a part of this network. Since opening our doors 20 years ago, AMM has been focused on teaching the next generation of medical providers, through internships, shadowing opportunities, fellowships and more. We’re pleased to introduce, Kayla Jones!
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Kayla Jones, our resident MedServe Fellow has been with us for 7 months and quickly became an integral part of our team. From working with clinic providers in the role of a Medical Assistant, showing patients to their room and taking vitals, to working with our Farm and Wellness Coordinator to recruit patients to our wellness programs to promote good health outside of the clinic, Kayla embodies the MedServe value of being a "champion of equity and health in underserved communities." We asked Kayla a few questions about her experience. Read more here.
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AMM is participating in the 2024 Bloom & Zoom Charity Race Festival, taking place on May 11th in Cary. Please use our unique referral link to sign up for the 5K or 8K! AMM receives a portion of the proceeds. Don't worry, if you're not a runner, you can walk both races!
Sign up here: www.alliancemedicalministry.org/bloomandzoom
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Wellness Class Growth!
This month's Food Smarts, a month long, weekly cooking class designed to educate patients on nutritional foods and new recipes, has seen an average of 11 patients each class compared to October's classes, which had an average of 5 patients per class.
Since January 2024, 7 new patients have joined one or more of our wellness programs, which include: yoga, strength training, food smarts, Zumba.
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Also, one loyal yoga attendee is on a streak! She consistently attended the last 27 yoga classes.
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"This is an opportunity that no one who has a medical condition should miss, as well as all the programs that this Clinic offers... are free and beneficial to us patients.... THANK YOU FOR THINKING OF US"
- An AMM Patient on the Wellness Programs, translated from Spanish.
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Our patients report that they love the wellness programs, from the social aspect to learning something new, they are always laughing and enjoying their time together, in addition to learning how to manage their health and wellness.
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Have you considered making an easy monthly recurring donation?
By making an affordable, automatic tax-deductible gift each month, you can help AMM continue to provide healthcare and wellness to working, uninsured residents of Wake County. Not only will your gift be directed immediately to AMM patients, it will make on-going support of AMM's mission easier for you.
Convenient: You decide the monthly amount that reflects your desire to support AMM’s impactful work, and your gift can be automatically billed to your credit card or debited from your PayPal account on the day of your choosing. We'll keep track of all contributions and send a year-end summary in January of the following year.
Save Time: You'll never have to visit the AMM website or mail another donation to AMM again! Of course, you can always change your monthly amount, suspend or discontinue your support, or modify your preferred method of payment at any time by calling us at (919) 250-9254.
Impact: Every gift of $1 provides $3.77 in healthcare and wellness to AMM patients. A monthly recurring donation of just $25 will provide $1131 in healthcare for patients whose lives and families depend on their health and wellness.
To start your monthly recurring donation, click here and select the “Monthly” option.
Thank you for helping our working, uninsured of Wake County who work hard everyday!
More Information here: https://www.alliancemedicalministry.org/donate
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