Centering Equity, Justice, and Inclusion in the Recovery Movement, join us on June 9-11, 2021 for this Live Webinar! Agenda is posted and registration is OPEN!

Deadline for Scholarships Extended until May 28th, Apply Today! If you or someone you know is in need of a full conference scholarship, click here to fill out an application. (If you cannot access this link, please contact Ellen Kesler, ekesler@wakehealth.edu. Please apply by May 28, 2021.)

The planners of this conference realize that one of the best ways we can become "One Community in Recovery" is to ensure that community members are learning new information together. We want to ensure that people who have first person experiences with recovery have the opportunity to participate. If you have a fixed or limited income, you are invited to apply for a scholarship to cover the conference registration fee. We hope to see you at the conference!

Join us on October 1st for this webinar! Save the date, registration will open soon. The aim of this conference is to provide health care professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to support and treat patients who struggle with obesity and obesity-related comorbidities. Participants will gain an evidence-based understanding of obesity as a complex disease that is influenced by a complex dynamic of physiological and psychosocial variables. Upon completion of the conference, participants will leave with a basic skill-set that enables them to identify treatment strategies that goes beyond “eat less and move more.”

The Training Industry Conference & Expo (TICE) was held online on April 27-29, Andrew L. Brewer, MS, Instructional Technologist for Northwest Area Health Education Center (NWAHEC), presented Pandemic Pivot: Shift from Classroom to Virtual. Andrew also hosted a roundtable discussion session on the future of online learning and development. 

TICE was attended by training professionals from all over the world. For the first time in the history of this long running program it was available online everywhere due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the topic of virtual learning was especially timely. 

With the experience of NWAHEC’s shift to online delivery, Andrew was able to use a case study to share the methodologies and lessons learned as NWAHEC tackled the challenges presented by the sudden necessity of virtual learning. 

NC AHEC has conducted a Pandemic Healthcare Workforce Study and also published the NC AHEC 2018-2019 Year in Review. Both are linked below!

There are a multitude of medications used to treat mental health. This lecture will review best practices from pharmacotherapy clinics for patients with mental health conditions.

Objectives
Identify treatment strategies for depression, anxiety and mood disorders, review drug interactions and common side effects of commonly used psychiatric drugs, and discuss the role of psychopharmaceuticals in practice.

Speaker: Julienne Kirk, PharmD, BCPS is a pharmacist and Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner. She has held a faculty position as Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine for the past 29 years. She teaches pharmacotherapy and psychopharmacology to family medicine residents. 

Read all about this upcoming program and register here!

The Northwest AHEC Practice Support Team is committed to promote understanding and improve the orientation of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) for North Carolinians. In order to support these goals, we will share a publication on SDOH each month on our Practice Support Blog. 

The social determinants of health, or the areas in which people are born, grow, work, and age, have a profound impact on health. This month we are highlighting the article Screening for Social Determinants of Health in Free and Charitable Clinics in North Carolina.

This publication summarizes findings by Wake Forest Baptist Health researchers Deepak Palakshappa, MD MSHP, Mark Scheerer, Charles Thomas Alexander Semelka, MD, and Kristie L. Foley, PhD. Utilizing a web-based survey, this research team examined free and charitable clinics level of participation in screening for Social Determinants of Health among their 80,000 uninsured and underinsured patient population. The article examines how they can address the needs of patients even more effectively.

The article describes in detail the survey used to collect the data, how the responses were obtained and the final analysis of the data that was received. In addition to the methods of the study, the article details what the authors and researchers learned from the results. Although the results represent findings from a small sample of North Carolina free and charitable clinics, it’s findings reveal a microcosm of the barriers facing the healthcare system and how it can slowly but surely address the needs of all people.


Source:

Palakshappa D, Scheerer M, Semelka CT, Foley KL. Screening for Social Determinants of Health in Free and Charitable Clinics in North Carolina. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2020;31(1):382-397. doi: 10.1353/hpu.2020.0029. PMID: 32037338. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32037338/


Full text article - https://muse.jhu.edu/article/747795

Northwest AHEC joined the March for Babies movement to create positive change for moms and babies everywhere, especially those most at risk. 

One month from today our 2021 Interpreter Series begins! Each level will be offered as an online event. Get signed up at the link below.

The Salvation Army of Greater Winston-Salem will be holding their Annual Fundraiser on Thursday, May 13th at 12:00PM-1:00PM. Registration is free. 

CALLING ALL RISING 12th GRADE STUDENTS! (Currently in 11th grade) We have a FREE Statewide Health Careers Summer Program for you, Deadline to apply has been extended until May 3rd!

The North Carolina AHEC Pre-Scholars Institute aims to provide professional development and mentoring to historically underrepresented students interested in pursuing a career in health care. Students will thoroughly enjoy health science workshops taught by health science faculty from across the state of NC, health care professional guest speakers, games and more! Our goal is to expose and prepare teens for a variety of careers in healthcare in a fun and exciting way. We believe in funrichment (fun+enrichment)! The content will be delivered via live webinar and online modules.