A Heart Healthy Thanksgiving Dinner

November is National Diabetes Month! This month is dedicated to raising awareness about diabetes, specifically how to prevent the disease. This issue is incredibly important to us at AMM as 48% of our patients have a diagnosis of diabetes or pre-diabetes. By making small lifestyle changes, the risk of type 2 diabetes significantly decreases and prediabetes can even be reversed. One of these lifestyle changes is choosing healthier foods and drinks, increasing fiber intake while decreasing fats and sugars from your diet.

We’re days away from Thanksgiving, a day that is known for foods full of carbohydrates, processed sugars and fat. What if there were a way to still enjoy your most favorite Thanksgiving foods, but with less of the unhealthy ingredients? Check out the below diabetes-friendly Thanksgiving recipes that will become your family’s new favorite holiday dishes!

Gobble Gobble Green Bean Casserole

Total: 1 hr, Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. fresh green beans, trimmed

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• 1 1/2 cups fat-free milk

• 1 tablespoon canola oil

• 2 large onions, halved & sliced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

• 1 cup soft whole what or white bread crumbs (1 1/3 slices bread)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large saucepan, cook green beans in lightly salted boiling water for 10 minutes; drain and place in a 2-quart rectangular baking dish; set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan heat butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, dry dressing mix, salt and pepper until combined. Whisk in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly; remove from heat.

3. In a large skillet heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic; cook and stir for 4 to 5 minutes or until tender and starting to brown. Remove 1/2 cup of the onion mixture; set aside.

4. Add mushrooms to skillet and cook about 5 minutes or until tender. Stir into sauce mixture. Pour over beans in dish; toss with tongs to coat.

5. In a small bowl, stir together reserved onion mixture and bread crumbs. Sprinkle bread crumb mixture over bean mixture in casserole. Bake, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes or until heated through.

Recipe and Recipe Photo from EatingWell.com

Caramelized Spiced Pears

Total: 25 min, Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 3 ripe but firm pears (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1/4-inch slices

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 3 tablespoons granulated or light brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

• Pinch of salt

Directions

1. Toss pears with lemon juice in a medium bowl. Melt butter in a large deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat; stir in the pears. Reduce heat to medium-low, co9ver and cook, stirring once halfway through, for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile combine sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt in a small bowl. After 10 minutes, stir the sugar into the pears. Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until the pears are tender and glazed, 4 to 6 minutes, depending on the type and firmness of the pears. Serve warm.

Recipe and Recipe Photo from EatingWell.com

Interview ft. Pete Tannenbaum Discussing Use of Technology by Nonprofits During Pandemic

COVID-19 has impacted how society normally operates, especially for our community's most vulnerable neighbors. Check out the WRAL interview below featuring Executive Director, Pete Tannenbaum, explaining how technology has allowed AMM to continue offering compassionate healthcare to patients throughout the pandemic.

Read the full article here: https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/how-nonprofits-have-used-technology-to-reach-residents-during-the-pandemic/19862943/

Happy National Doctor’s Day: Meet Dr. Thakur!

Today is National Doctor’s Day, and in the past year it has become glaringly obvious just how crucial our healthcare providers really are. Take a chance to honor the hard work and dedication doctors provide to their communities all across the country today (and every day!).

In honor of this special holiday, we want to highlight our newest family physician on staff: Dr. Netra Thakur. Dr. Thakur first came to Alliance Medical Ministry as a volunteer family physician when COVID broke out in March 2020. She joined staff last summer, and we are so excited to have her on our team! She now serves as Co-Medical Director alongside Dr. Sheryl Joyner as well.

Dr. Thakur, who is originally from Philadelphia and worked for a long time in Maryland and then North Carolina before coming to AMM, shared that it was the staff that initially drew her to AMM: “Right off the bat I noticed the quality of the staff and the providers. They’re very much true to the mission, very much patient-focused, and really responsible to being able to provide quality care. You couldn’t ask for better partners than Joanna and Josh and Dr. Joyner, because they’re smart, and they’re caring, and they really do take responsibility and ownership for their patients,” she reported.

She also loves that AMM takes a holistic approach to healthcare, caring for patients in mind, body and spirit. “Food really does affect health,” she stated. Nutrition is an especially important issue at AMM, she affirmed, since many patients are diabetic or pre-diabetic or have cultural, familial, or financial barriers that can prevent them from eating healthfully.  She is excited to encourage her patients to cook with vegetables from our garden and take advantage of our Yoga and Zumba classes.

“You can’t provide healthcare if you aren’t considering issues around social determinants of health. Everybody [at AMM] gets that… I feel that healthcare is a right, not a privilege, so that’s why I’m attracted to being with a patient population that wouldn’t have resources otherwise,” she said. We are all inspired by Dr. Thakur’s compassion and competence and grateful to have her on board with us.

Thank you to Dr. Thakur, Dr. Joyner, Josh, Joanna, and all our nurses and medical staff for their important work caring for the health and wellbeing of the Wake County community.

Fostering Mental Health in Such a Time as This

A message from Toby James, Director of Pastoral Care & Counseling at AMM

The coronavirus has upended our lifestyles and brought about a tidal wave of uncertainty into our futures.  What can we do to manage our mental health in the midst of so much change?  We can exercise our agency and tap into our capacity to care for ourselves—mind, body, and spirit.  In doing so, we become more aware of the amazing resilience within us. 

We Can:

• Proactively wash our hands, faces, and the items/surfaces we touch to arm ourselves against contracting the virus. 

• Educate ourselves about the virus with reputable news outlets that offer the facts, and limit time spent endlessly searching through news.  Obsessively sifting through the ever-present news coverage can easily overwhelm us and stoke our anxieties. 

• Practice social distancing, and physical isolation when sick, without disconnecting from others.  Connection is an essential human need even for the most introverted of us.  Community is vital in times of crisis.  Honor the wisdom that “no person is an island,” and take advantage of the ways technology offers us opportunities to connect with family and friends when physically distant.  Sharing concerns and hopes with others can instill a sense of solidarity and community that can keep us from the pitfalls of isolation and loneliness.  Reach out when in need to others who can empathize with the stress and worry. 

• Cultivate our creativity.  Dusting off that poem, drawing, painting, etc. that we’ve neglected can open us our creative muses who offer us insights and remind us of ways of connecting with (and expressing) parts of ourselves that have been dormant for a while. 

• Take advantage of the warmer weather and exercise our bodies.  Get in those steps!  Walking outside can increase the heart rate and simultaneously help us gather more vitamin D, while recognizing that others are out doing the same thing and increasing opportunities for being social while social distancing.  The gym is closed?  No problem.  Old-fashioned push-ups and calisthenics from our physical education classes in elementary school and practices like yoga require only our bodies and efficiently allow us to remain present with our bodies.  You Call This Yoga, a local nonprofit that teaches accessible yoga to our patients at AMM, has a great Youtube channel with videos for beginning, intermediate, and advanced yoga students.

• Carve out time to cultivate our spirits through religious practices that help root us during times of uncertainty.  Mindful practices such as prayer, yogic breathing, and meditation help lower our heart rates and quiet our minds from negative rumination and chatter, which is necessary to hear the still, small voice inside.  Meditating on scripture can center us and give us renewed perspectives.  Spiritual practices enable us to connect with the divine and the parts of ourselves we neglect when feeling frantic. Try this easy, 5-minute guided breathing exercise to start. 

• Schedule time with a psychotherapist.  Being able to be vulnerable and open in the presence of a non-anxious, non-judgmental, trained professional who is attentive and empathetic is an opportunity for self-awareness and empowerment.  At Alliance we are providing telehealth psychotherapy, a viable alternative to in-person therapy during the pandemic.  Other mental health providers elsewhere are doing the same.   

Taking advantage of these and other practices will empower us toward agency, community, a sense of relief, and compassion, all of which can equip us to better approach ourselves and others with grace. Let’s all do what we can to foster mental health in a time such as this.

Peace,

Toby James, Psy.D, M.Div., NCFBPPC

Director of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Alliance Medical Ministry

Meet Isabel Barcenas-Valadez

Isabel Barcenas-Valadez is a Certified Nursing Assistant at Alliance Medical Ministry. Among her responsibilities are welcoming our patients and orienting them on their visit, obtaining their vital signs, and informing them about our wellness programs (yoga, Zumba, cooking classes, and diabetes education).

Isabel started at Alliance three years ago, where she began as a volunteer while pursuing a degree in Spanish interpreting. She decided to work full-time at the clinic when she realized she could help meet the needs of our patients and, in doing so, make a real difference in their lives. 

When Isabel is not in the office, she is spending time with her three-year-old son and fiance. She also loves to read, particularly non-fiction books about historical figures and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
Thank you, Isabel, for your comprehensive and compassionate care at AMM! 

Pablo Escobar Discusses Healthcare for the Uninsured in Radio Interview

Pablo Escobar, clinic director for Alliance Medical Ministry, discusses efforts to help North Carolina’s uninsured in a radio interview with NC Policy Watch.

Listen here: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2019/12/02/pablo-escobar-clinic-director-for-the-alliance-medical-ministry-discusses-efforts-to-help-north-carolinas-uninsured/

Duke Energy Helps Alliance Reduce Energy Costs

“For a nonprofit, every dollar saved is one that can be put toward achieving its mission. At Alliance Medical Ministry in Raleigh, N.C., Executive Director Pete Tannenbaum looked at his energy bill and thought there was an opportunity to save.

He was right, and, after working with Duke Energy, his nonprofit will save about $200 a month by switching to LED lighting with plans for more upgrades and savings.”

Read the full article here: https://illumination.duke-energy.com/articles/with-lower-energy-bills-this-clinic-can-help-more-people?_ga=2.240625731.1948032504.1573672400-1224005440.1537397198