The Cahaba Newsletter: September 2022
CAHABA MEDICAL CARE NEWS
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CAHABA MEDICAL CARE NEWS 〰️
This month, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. We honor and celebrate the diversity and contributions of the Hispanic community in our state, and we remain committed to fighting for health equity in all communities!
WILDFLOWER WALK & WELLNESS FAIR
Cahaba Medical Care was honored to sponsor and participate in the Alabama Suicide Prevention and Resources Coalition's annual Wildflower Walk and Wellness Fair in Woodstock on Sept. 10 to support people facing mental health issues and suicide prevention.
The free event featured local vendors, live music, and activities for kids. Wildflower seeds were planted in the memory garden at the track, and special community vendors offered free information on health, wellness, and recovery services. Senator April Weaver also stopped by for the ribbon cutting and dedication of the Woodstock Memorial Fountain & Wildflower Garden. Thank you ASPARC and the Town of Woodstock for inviting us to be a part of this important event!
ALABASTER HEALTH FAIR
Our team had a blast getting to know the Shelby County community at the annual health fair on September 10th as we prepare to open Cahaba Medical Care - Alabaster! Dr. Keith Do and Dr. Rowell Ashford II will be part of the primary and prenatal care team at our new health center serving the Shelby County community, conveniently located in Suite 350 of Shelby Baptist Medical Center. As many of the health fair participants said, "It will be great to have another option for my healthcare!"
WALMART GRANT FOR FIT2B KIDS
Cahaba Medical Care Foundation was awarded a $1000 Walmart Foundation Community Grant for the Fit2B CMC Kids program at Brent Elementary. The Fit2B CMC Kids program is implemented within the CAST Program at Brent Elementary where over 100 elementary students will engage in health and wellness activities to promote physical, mental, and social well-being.
CAHABA’S MOBILE FOOD PANTRY
More than 100 residents in Bibb County lined up for food at Cahaba Medical Care's mobile food pantry held at First Baptist Church of Woodstock earlier this month. Food bags included produce, canned goods, meats, frozen items, cereal and juice.
Click HERE to check out the news coverage by WVUA 23.
Cahaba's next mobile food pantry will be held on Wednesday, October 5th in the parking lot of our West Blocton clinic.
DEPARTMENT SPOTLIGHT: FACILITIES
Cahaba's Facilities Team are the silent superheroes of all the things we accomplish daily. From creating "Leroy" over a weekend during the pandemic for mobile vaccine clinics, installing covid sheds and drive thru testing sites, building remodels (many of which are on tight deadlines), billboard installations and much much more, they play a vital role in all that we do. They are out-of-the-box thinkers who know how to work skillfully to get things done. We are beyond grateful for our facilities team and appreciate all that they do to help us serve the communities we love so much!
CAHABA RECEIVES COMMUNITY HEALTH QUALITY RECOGNITION (CHQR)
Providing quality care to our patients, communities and populations is a core mission and value of Cahaba Medical Care. This is nowhere better exemplified than in the Federal Quality Awards with which we have been recognized. The CHQR badges recognize Health Center Program awardees that have made notable quality improvement achievements in the areas of access, quality, health equity, and health information technology for the most recent UDS reporting period.
HEALTH CENTER QUALITY LEADER
The Health Center Quality Leader (HCQL) badges are awarded to health centers that achieve the best overall clinical quality measure (CQM) performance among all health centers in the nation, and are calculated using the average of the 2021 Adjusted Quartile Rankings (AQR) for all CQMs reported by a health center. The Gold Tier means that Cahaba ranks in the top 10% in quality nationwide.
NATIONAL QUALITY LEADER (NQL) - BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
NQL badges are awarded to health centers that meet or exceed national benchmarks for one or more of the clinical quality measure (CQMs) groups that promote behavioral health.
ACCESS ENHANCER
The Access Enhancer badge recognizes health centers that have increased the total number of patients and the number of patients who receive at least one comprehensive service (mental health, substance abuse, vision, dental, and/or enabling) by at least 5%.
ADVANCING HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HIT) FOR QUALITY
The Advancing HIT for Quality badge recognizes health centers that meet all criteria to optimize HIT services that advance telehealth, patient engagement, interoperability, and collection of social determinants of health data to increase access to care and advance quality of care.
ADDRESSING SOCIAL RISK FACTORS
The Addressing Social Risk Factors badge recognizes health centers that are screening for social risk factors impacting patient health and are increasing access to enabling services.
PATIENT CENTERED MEDICAL HOME (PCMH) RECOGNITION
The PCMH badge recognizes health centers with PCMH Recognition in one or more delivery sites.
RESIDENCY NEWS
RESIDENCY RETREAT
Cahaba - UAB Family Residency held its eighth annual residency retreat in September at Shocco Springs in Talladega, Alabama. Residents, faculty, staff, and their families came together over a long weekend to connect with new faces and reconnect with familiar ones. The weekend featured lots of activities including an early morning 5K, karaoke night, paintball, high ropes course, extreme frisbee, volleyball, cornhole, and pool time.
COMMUNITY RESOURCE SCAVENGER HUNT
As part of their community medicine curriculum, residents from each of Cahaba-UAB Family Medicine Residency’s tracks participated in a community resource scavenger hunt. The purpose of this scavenger hunt is to familiarize the residents with available patient resources in the areas where we serve. The residents were divided into teams of 3-4 and asked to visit at least one resource in each category: food pantry, clothes closet, utility assistance, housing resources, transportation, shelter, and substance abuse assistance. The teams competed to see which team could visit the most sites in the allotted time. Additionally, the teams were asked to navigate a charity care application for two hospitals in the area, take the public transit system, and shop for a week’s worth of food for a diabetes-friendly diet on a $50 budget.
SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY
A Delay in care due to COVID 19 pandemic: Findings from the National Health Interview Survey submitted by Daniel Fijabi, MD, MSc (Urban PGY-3 Resident); Oluwaseyi Isehunwa MBCHB, MPH, PHD; Philip Ojeabulu, MD (Emergency Medicine Fellow); Adam Ross, MD (Assistant Residency Director - Urban Track) was accepted for poster presentation at the American Public Health Association (APHA) 2022 Conference.
INTERNATIONAL ROTATIONS
PERU
Submitted by: Dr. Shay Gibson (PGY-3 Rural Resident)
I traveled to Trujillo, Peru for another month to continue learning Spanish. When I finished my rotation in the Spring, I was still at a basic Spanish level but continued to work on my Spanish in the meantime. When I got back to Peru in August, I felt more comfortable with my Spanish but still needed to learn more. I spent four weeks doing seven hours a day of Spanish classes. This included medical Spanish, grammar, and conversation. I continued to improve and by the end of four weeks, I was at an intermediate high level of Spanish grammar and conversation. In addition to Spanish classes, I had three days of medical campaigns where I got to use my Spanish speaking and listening skills to treat patients for various healthcare issues, including diabetes, hypertension, back pain, carpal tunnel, etc.
On weekends I enjoyed traveling around Peru. One weekend was spent in Puerto Malabrigo where the longest wave in the world was documented in 2017. I tried surfing for an hour and had a blast. My last weekend in Peru, I traveled to Cusco and did Machu Picchu. This was an amazing experience that was truly a once in lifetime opportunity. Seeing one of the seven wonders of the world in person was something I will never forget. I absolutely enjoyed my second month learning Spanish in Peru and feel much more comfortable speaking with patients and will continue to learn now that I am back.
We are a community-based non-profit healthcare organization that aims to follow Christ in becoming an incarnation of love, peace, and justice for our patients on their journey towards physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being