Can you Dig it? Growing Nutritional Tools one Squash at a Time!

Here at Alliance Medical Ministry, our community garden is buzzing with the “busy bees” that grow fresh, healthy produce for our patients.  The community garden plays an essential role in our mission to provide medical care to the uninsured working adults of Wake County.  The garden allows us to highlight the importance of healthy eating in a very real way to our patients who see the garden and receive its bounty on a regular basis.  By incorporating produce from our garden into the patients’ clinical experience through “produce prescriptions” and in our wellness programs, patients are able to see the impact nutrition plays on their overall health and are empowered to improve their nutritional well being. Alliance is starting the year off by participating as a host site for the “Dig In” volunteer workday for AHA’s (Advocates for Health in Action) “Dig In” Conference on March 8^th.  After the conference participants can come to Alliance to gets hands on experience in our community garden.

On March 15^th Crossroads Fellowship is coming to Alliance for a workday to begin planting for the spring.

Everyone is invited on March 22^nd to our Spring Garden Kick-off and Open House.  We’ll be having a garden workday from 9:30-11:30 and finish with a garden blessing in hopes that our harvest will be a bountiful one for our patients!  This is a great chance to come see what Alliance is about and help us start the year off strong.

We will have additional garden workdays throughout the year to harvest, plant, and nurture the garden that works hard year round to nurture our patients.  Make plans to join us on any of the following days:

April 26 May 17 June 28 July 26 August 23 September 27 October 25 November 22

Come dig with us!  Contact our Garden Coordinator (garden@alliancemedicalministry.org) to learn more.

Alliance closed again today due to the weather

Alliance will be closed again today, Friday, February 14 due to the weather.  We hope you all stay safe and warm!  We will resume our normal schedule on Monday.

Alliance will be closed due to the snow

Alliance is closing for the inclement weather as of 12:30 pm today, February 12 and will also be closed on Thursday, February 13.  Enjoy the snow and be safe!

Thank You for your Support in 2013!

I want to extend a heartfelt and hearty thank you to all of our donors, volunteers and friends who help to make 2013 – our 10^th Anniversary year – a success at Alliance! We raised new friends and reengaged old friends at our spring open house, garden workdays, Farm to Table Anniversary Dinner, Fun with Friends and created many new volunteer opportunities.

We raised funds that allowed Alliance to continue to provide exceptional patient care to our working neighbors and pilot new wellness programs.

We helped patients navigate the ACA insurance exchange.

All of these efforts and much more will be highlighted in our upcoming 2013 Annual Report that will be available online and our newsletter late this spring.

Out with the old and in with the new  . . . 2014 is going to be a stellar year at Alliance!  We are...

Expanding our patient wellness programs to include regular yoga classes, nutrition classes, monthly diabetes education classes (including a pilot program for patients’ children, Growing Healthy Gardens, in partnership with the Poe Center for Health Education), monthly mammography clinics, garden programs and activities.

Watching our garden grow.  We are adding raised beds and benches thanks to a couple of awesome Eagle Scouts, adding fruit bushes and an herb garden.

Welcoming 2 baby girls to our Alliance family. Drs. Hicks and Parker are expecting in the first quarter of the year!

Hosting events for volunteers, donors and friends including a volunteer and garden celebration and kick off in late March, a Women’s’ Luncheon focusing on women’s health disparity, Walk in Her Shoes, May 1, and many more throughout the year.

Come on board and join the Alliance Family.  We are making a difference in the community because of YOU!

Megg Rader President & Executive Director Alliance Medical Ministry

The Beat Goes on for Timothy...

“I am an original member of Trouble Funk,” shared Timothy.  Trouble Funk is a funk band from Washington, DC that made “go-go” music popular in the 80’s.  “I played percussion. We started in DC, but then traveled the world playing music.”

Towards the end of his career, Timothy weighed 465 pounds.  “I worked all night and then would eat bad food before I would go to bed.” He finally realized that he needed to do something.  Before too long, Timothy had lost 145 pounds!

As Timothy retired from the band and prepared to move to Raleigh to be near family, his friends told him that by moving to “the south” he would gain his weight back.  Determined to prove them wrong, Timothy found Alliance at the suggestion of his family.

At his first appointment last April, his weight had already sneaked back up to 387.  “I really did not know I was in bad health,” Timothy said.  “But after talking with Dr. Hicks I learned there was so much more I needed to do.  “Now I walk six days a week.  I eat smaller portions.  When the weight started to come off, I was motivated to do more.  I eat more fruits and vegetables now than I ever have.  The best part is that everyone is so proud of me!”

Now, just 9 months after Timothy joined the Alliance family, he lost 60 pounds! “It’s hard to make a complete life change, but Alliance has kept me focused.”   Timothy is enjoying his retirement and his family. He still plays with Trouble Funk if they have a large national concert. We are proud to be part of Timothy’s second act in life!

The show must go on! Based on Timothy’s income, he does not make enough money to qualify for healthcare subsidies through the Affordable Care Act.  He can’t afford health insurance, does not qualify for Medicaid, and has a few more years before he will qualify for Medicare.  Timothy is one of tens of thousand adults in Wake County who still reside in the healthcare gap. When he is eligible for Medicare, our healthcare system will gain a healthier man who goes by the beat of his own drum!

Information is Power: My Story as a Healthcare Navigator

By Carina Saavedra When I began serving as an Affordable Care Act Navigator at Alliance in November, the healthcare.gov website was plagued with technical difficulties. It was frustrating to be unable to complete an enrollment because the website constantly went down. A bad experience can sometimes turn a person away from the whole process, resulting in more than just frustration; they can impede health insurance access.

However, since December, the websites performance has improved greatly, resulting in a smoother experience.  Every person I help at Alliance is unique, and his or her experience is unique as well. Their questions and concerns can and do vary widely.  Some of the patients I serve seek basic information about the Affordable Care Act, others want assistance in the enrollment process.  Many patients are concerned about affordability and don’t know that financial assistance may be available to them.  Some want to know how to pay their monthly premium and others ask what a monthly premium is.  As a Navigator, I am here to assist our patients in their transition to health care coverage as consumers of The Marketplace under the Affordable Care Act.  Whenever I am able to assist a person in completing the process, and they enroll in a health insurance plan, I print out a copy of their insurance plan summary.  I review the plan summary with them, highlighting important information like the plan’s name, the company’s contact information, so that later on the consumer can become their own health insurance “navigator!”

My experience at Alliance has been personally fulfilling.  Appreciative patients have thanked me for helping them in accessing affordable health insurance for themselves and their families; this is the most rewarding part.  However, not every Navigation appointment has had a happy ending.  I have had some hard conversations, like having to tell someone that they don’t qualify for a government subsidy because their income is too low, or explaining that they don’t qualify for financial assistance because they are eligible for insurance through their or their spouse’s job.

Even though not everyone I assist is able to enroll in a health insurance plan, I feel that my service does make a difference.  I do my best to ensure that every patient is clear about their health insurance options enabling them to make informed choices.  If information is power, then my work is empowering people, and that, for me, is the greatest reward.

Alliance is a medical home to 7,000 low-income working adults.  Carina is serving at Alliance Medical Ministry as a Navigator through a year-long AmeriCorps position made possible through a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service to Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC). Only 40% of Alliance patient qualify for healthcare subsidies; 60% remain in the gap not quailing for any government support and ineligible for Medicaid. To learn more or support our work, go to www.alliancemedicalministry.org. 

Getting to the Heart of the Season

Six years ago Dulce went to the emergency room because her hand was numb. She was scared, did not know what else to do, and did not have insurance. Dulce had Rheumatic heart disease and needed regular medical care; care she simply could not afford.  After being connected with Alliance Medical Ministry, she was able to get access to her own doctor and start a course of Coumadin to manage her heart issues.

Alliance gave Dulce access to medical care despite the fact that she did not have insurance, but that is only half of the story. For years, Dulce followed the advice of Dr. Joyner to manage her health.  She was also connected to one of our volunteer specialty providers, Dr. Paar, to have an in-depth look at her heart condition.  Earlier this year, Dr. Paar felt that Dulce needed more help; she needed mitral valve replacement.

Dr. Paar reached out to surgeons and the hospital and got a large portion of her heart surgery donated.  In September, two weeks after her surgery, Dulce walked into Alliance with her daughter and four-month old grandson to take pictures for Alliance’s Holiday Honor Cards.

“I am so thankful for Dr. Joyner, Dr. Paar and the rest of the team at Alliance,” shared Dulce.  “I don’t think I would be here right now without them, because I would not know where else to go.”

Alliance is here for Dulce now and will continue to be here in 2014.  Dulce works for a local supermarket, and based on her income and household size, will not qualify for healthcare subsidies through the Affordable Care Act.  She can’t afford health insurance and does not qualify for Medicaid leaving her in the healthcare gap. Alliance will continue to serve Dulce, and thousands like her in the years to come.

As we approach the holiday season, we often think of ways we can help others and provide hope.  This year, Alliance gave Dulce, and other working adults, the gift of health.  You can support their work to provide medical care to the working uninsured with a gift this holiday season.  You can even make a gift in someone’s honor and the recipient will receive a holiday card featuring a patient with acknowledgement of your gift.  To learn more about Alliance Medical Ministry, to make a gift, or purchase a Holiday Honor Card, go to www.alliancemedicalministry.org.