We are excited to welcome Nora Miller to our staff as the new Director of Gardening and Wellness Programs. She brings a wealth of knowledge about gardening and health, along with a lot of enthusiasm, to Alliance Medical Ministry.
Nora began working on farms in high school, where her primary customers were middle-class. She graduated from NC State with a major in Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems last May; through her classes, she learned about food insecurity, especially in Raleigh. She became focused on sustainable gardening and making fresh produce accessible to everyone. In regard to her new role at Alliance, she says: "it is quite literally my dream job."
Her main goals for Alliance are to help people understand where their food comes from and to get patients more involved in the garden and their health. She also wants our patients to have access to a therapeutic garden; she plans on clearing the unused areas around the garden to create 'green spaces' for therapy and counseling.
Welcome Mandy Horner
Meet Mandy Horner, Director of Nursing and the newest member of the staff at Alliance Medical Ministry! She brings a wealth of knowledge about nursing and healthcare. She has diplomas in Licensed Practical Nursing, Certified Nursing Assistance, and Registered Nursing; along with hospital, nursing home, group home, and volunteer experience. She most recently worked at the Urban Ministries Open Door Clinic.
Mandy is excited to return to her clinic roots--she wanted to work hands-on with patients again, and to educate and teach them about their health. As the Director of Nursing at Alliance, she has the opportunity to get back to face-to-face nursing.
Mandy’s main goal for Alliance is to engage patients in their own healthcare. She believes that every interaction with patients is an opportunity to help them take control of their own health. She says, “I want to individually change the views of patients to be healthy for themselves. This will create a ripple effect - into their families, the community, the public, the population.”
Welcome Pablo Escobar
We are so excited to have Pablo Escobar join our staff as our new Clinic Director. He brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and talent to our nonprofit. Pablo retired as the director of Urban Ministries' Open Door Clinic several years ago. After spending the last two years traveling with his wife, and taking care of things around his house, he decided he had enough of retirement and joined the AMM team.
Pablo says that he has two main goals for Alliance. One: to get recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance for being a Patient-Centered Medical Home. That would make AMM one of the first free and charitable clinics in North Carolina to receive this important designation. Two: Pablo wants to work on the quality of care at Alliance. He plans to support the providers in any way he can to improve our patients' experience.
Pablo is already proud of his workplace. He is most excited about Alliance's capacity for growth. He says, "Alliance is a key player in community health. There are so many people that fall through the cracks, who do not have health care because they make too little money, or they don't have access to insurance through their employer, or they decide not to have insurance for some reason or other. And so, Alliance and the free and charitable clinics like it fill that gap. They provide an incredible service to the community in avoiding expensive hospitalizations by providing care here, in this clinic."
Volunteer Spotlight: Zumba Instructor, Sandra Herrera
Sandra leading a group of volunteers and patients in a Zumba routine outsider during our 2019 Garden Launch!
Monday nights at Alliance look a lot livelier thanks to our volunteer Zumba instructor, Sandra Herrera. Beginning in October 2018, Sandra began teaching our weekly Zumba class that is free for patients. This 60-minute dance exercise class is a perfect way for our patients to get moving, build community, and relax from daily stressors. Sandra’s contagious joy and incredible energy make her a perfect fit for the Alliance volunteer team. She also connects easily with our Spanish-speaking patients as a bilingual instructor.
“When you come to Alliance, you instantly feel a connection. The environment is relaxing and the people inspire me to keep volunteering. I feel blessed to volunteer here.”
Zumba is one of the many ways Alliance approaches health in a compassionate, comprehensive way through our Healthy Steps Wellness Program. Healthy Steps offers hands-on, inspiring, and educational opportunities to help patients achieve their personal health goals. We are so thankful for our Zumba class and to have Sandra on the Alliance team!
Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and we are thankful to hear from Alliance’s Director of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Toby Bonar, Psy.D, M.Div., CFBPPC on the importance of mental health when caring for the whole person.
“The richest and fullest lives attempt to achieve an inner balance between three realms: work, love, and play.” -Erik Erikson
Pastoral Care and Counseling Volunteer Berty Allen MSW, LCSW (L) and Toby Bonar, Psy.D, M.Div., CFBPPC, Director of Pastoral Care and Counseling (R)
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and it reminds me of how most discussions regarding mental health often focus on mental illness. In this article, I hope to center the discussion on the triune elements of mental health—work, love, and play—to highlight how, when balanced, they spur us toward a life of growth, development, and fullness. When one or more of the three is disproportionately represented, we can become preoccupied or distracted from what we need, resulting in unhealthiness.
Most of us are likely familiar with the old saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” We also understand the idea in its less familiar counterpart, “All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.” The couplet demonstrates the need for a balance between work and play. Freud similarly highlighted how essential it is to have a balance of work and love to live a healthy life. So, what do work, love, and play mean in the context of our mental health?
Work
Work in the sense of well being is not simply about having a job but rather the ability to be generative and find meaning in what one is doing. A job is a means toward making money, but neither having a job nor making money are sufficient for the kind of work that contributes to mental health. Also, work is more than being productive and competent in one’s tasks. To be generative is to have the capacity to be productive and creative while doing work that extends beyond one’s own self-interest. Parents, for example, can work generatively toward the benefit of their children. Work needs balance with love and play to prevent the dullness Jack experienced, i.e., obsessiveness, compulsiveness, and/or workaholism.
Love
Freud also warned against working to the point of losing one’s capacity to love. Our understanding of the capacity to love has centered on the ability to devote one’s self to another while remaining a self. We know folks who have lost themselves in relationships, foregoing their agency and autonomy for the sake of the relationship. We also know folks who have avoided relationships or entered relationships that do not require much of them as a way to protect against any loss of self-sufficiency. Healthy love instead balances dependence and independence. When we are able to be full persons in and of ourselves while also devoting ourselves to others, we can achieve the kind of interdependence from which life-giving relationships flourish. Too much self-sufficiency or depending too much on our partners for our identities prevents us from relating healthily.
Play
For adults, play is different than it is for children. Adults experience play as the opposite of work as in Jack’s proverbial quip. Play achieves re-creation and rejuvenation from work. Play is about enjoyment, a break from the seriousness, and entering into playful games and imaginative activities. The King or Queen has a jester to provide entertainment just as our inner rulers and jesters counterbalance one another. Too much play leads to self-indulgence and irresponsibility, while healthy amounts of play invite us not to take ourselves too seriously and to let go of our rigid desire to be in control. Adults can learn from children how to play in life-giving ways that highlight the joy of life in the moment.
For children, play is also the means through which they develop and work out their inner-conflicts and identities. Children are unable to articulate their emotions and conflicts so they creatively play them out and imaginatively learn how to develop themselves through their ability to play. Therapy with children often involves toys to invite them to play out their unconscious processes through their imaginations. Adults develop the capacity to articulate our inner conflicts and replace our childhood need to rely upon play as the means through which we grow and progress through our struggles. In other words, the conversation becomes for adults what play does for children. We know what a rare gift it can be to have someone with whom we can discuss our conflicts and play them out in conversation. We also recognize that often we can feel particularly overwhelmed or ashamed and may instead unconsciously guard against them.
Relationship
Work, love, and play all involve a relationship to thrive, and unsurprisingly therapy for our mental health involves a collaborative relationship with a psychotherapist or counselor. Psychotherapy is an invitation to work, love, and play in relationship with a caring listener in a safe setting wherein we are invited the freedom to tell our stories that we might hear them ourselves and discover our capacities for balance. Therapy invites us into a process wherein a patient and therapist can trust the relationship will enter into parts of a patient’s life that strengthen development, honesty, and self-esteem and balance self-sufficiency, devotion, re-creation, productivity, generativity, and meaning-making.
Alliance Medical Ministry recognizes how mental health significantly impacts our well being, along with our physical, spiritual, and social wellness. At Alliance, we understand how rare it can be to have someone with whom one can explore the inner balances of life in a safe space with a compassionate listener. Being an Alliance patient is an opportunity to receive onsite mental healthcare from a psychotherapist, counselor, or psychiatrist who are trained to help empower the inner-balance between work, play, and love. In the first quarter of 2019, we have hosted 459 mental healthcare visits. We are so thankful to have a Pastoral Care and Counseling program that engages our mission of providing comprehensive care to the working, uninsured adults living in Wake County.
To learn more about our Pastoral Care and Counseling program, visit here.
The 2019 Million Step Challenge has begun!
Last night we kicked off AMM’s third annual Million Step Challenge! Thirty four participants are challenged to reach 1 million steps over the course of 100 days.
We'll do the math for you: that's about 10,000 steps every day!
In April, May, and June, walkers will "get their steps in" by issuing challenges to each other, planning group walks, and coming to Alliance for our Walk with a Doc program.
Garden & Wellness Coordinator Jesse Crouch is hosting a 1.3 mile group walk twice each month at Alliance. The Million Step Challenge also engages it’s walkers by encouraging participation in our healthy topics discussions. Identified health educators, including nutritionists and healthcare providers, will give various 30-45 minute health education sessions throughout the program.
Thanks to Million Step Challenge Sponsor Fleet Feet, all patients receive Garmins to track their steps!
Alliance had a full house for the Kick-Off Dinner for the Million Step Challenge. The participants had the evening to get to know each other, team build, and strategize for the next few months. The group also listened to some encouraging words from both Dr. Joyner and Jesse while enjoying some fresh veggies, hummus, sandwiches and salads.
We'll look forward to following the walkers as they take steps toward their goal!
Volunteer Spotlight: Beverly Schnick
Beverly (L) and Kim Stephenson (R), Director of Nursing
This month, we are celebrating two incredible volunteer anniversaries!
Beverly Schnick, RN, was first drawn to Alliance’s mission and vision to see all residents of Wake County have access to healthcare 4 years ago when she heard about the clinic at an Apex United Methodist Church event. She has been volunteering on a weekly basis ever since. Coming from an extensive background in nursing, including time serving as an Air Force base nurse, Beverly says Alliance fulfills her desire to stay professionally involved in healthcare. “The AMM staff treats me as one of their own when I come in each week. It is unique to find the professional comradery Alliance offers to volunteers, especially in retirement.” Since beginning her time as a volunteer, Beverly has seen our clinic in many seasons. Working primarily in the telephone triage, Beverly notes how changes such as telephone translation have overcome barriers with our patients, allowing us to serve patients more efficiently. She remarks that it is rewarding to see patients continually educated on healthcare and connected to the resources they need.
When asked what word Beverly would use to describe Alliance she said caring. “Alliance serves a population that often gets overlooked. The staff and volunteers work hard to make sure that no one gets overlooked when they walk through the doors of our clinic.”
Betsy Allen MSW, LCSW is also celebrating an anniversary with us, joining the Alliance family in March of 2013. She has been a regular volunteer on our Pastoral Care and Counseling team since that time, seeing patients each week for counseling. Read more of Betsy’s story here.
Beverly and Betsy have touched the lives of countless patients and the entire Alliance family. We are so thankful for their dedication to serving our clinic!