NCAFCC News April 2021

In this Issue CEO Update Director of Quality & Clinical Support What is Health Equity Clinic Virtual Tours and Videos Flu Vaccine Update Upcoming Region Meetings NCAFCC Staff and Board Community Partners

CEO Update Randy Jordan, CEO

The Journey Towards Health Equity   In this month’s newsletter we are focusing on a topic that is gaining momentum in North Carolina. Health Equity is showing up as a strong priority among the state’s leading philanthropies and policymakers. The topic was also prominent in the distribution plan for the COVID-19 vaccine. I suspect that Health Equity will feel almost intuitive for most of you as free and charitable clinics and pharmacies exist to meet the needs of a patient population that is medically underserved. However, the way this topic is being discussed today among health policymakers and funders will require that we understand and adopt the current terminology of Health Equity. You will see elsewhere in the newsletter a good definition for the term “Health Equity.” You may also run across the phrase, “health disparities among historically marginalized populations” or the new acronym, BIPOC, which is an abbreviation for an aggregate description of “Black, Indigenous and People Of Color” people. BIPOC is growing as a term used by North Carolina’s funders as a factor to describe organizations and the people they serve such as in “BIPOC-led and BIPOC-serving organizations.”   At NCAFCC, our plans for this year include training and education opportunities about Health Equity and a special grant opportunity (being announced today) for a minimum of four Member clinics to receive up to $50,000 each to explore and illuminate their work on addressing health disparities among communities of color during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope these activities will reveal best practices in Health Equity among NC’s free and charitable clinics and pharmacies that can be shared for the benefit of other safety-net providers. One of the reasons that NCAFCC Members are a great “learning laboratory” for this work is that we are already engaged in the Health Equity building blocks of collecting race and ethnicity data as part of our annual outcomes survey, and have more than 10 years’ experience with measuring diabetes and hypertension health outcomes. Our promise at NCAFCC is that we will journey down the road towards Health Equity together and look forward to all that we will learn along the way.

Quality & Clinical Support Update Cindy Jones, Director of Quality & Clinical Support

2020 NCAFCC Annual Outcomes Survey The annual surveys submitted by NCAFCC Members is currently going through the review process. Due to late submissions, outcomes grant awards and survey results may be revealed later than normal this year.   NCAFCC Accreditation Congratulation’s goes to the following Members for establishing re-accreditation status: Hunger & Health Coalition in Boone as of February 28, 2021, and Urban Ministries Open Door Clinic in Raleigh as of March 25, 2021  View the NCAFCC Accreditation Program.   Addressing the Impact of Health Disparity and Consequences of the Covid-19 Pandemic - Funding Opportunity for NCAFCC Members NCAFCC has announced a funding opportunity to encourage and support their Members in addressing the impact of health disparity and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement included: Overview Purpose Eligibility Award – up to $50,000 Timelines – Due by June 1,2020 Objectives, and The Funding Opportunity Application (FOA) - click here for FOA Health disparity and equity resource material was also provided with the announcement. All FOAs are to be emailed to me by June 1, 2021. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you did not receive the announcement.  Application Documents Funding Opportunity Application Impact of COVID-19 in NC Patient and Family Engaged Care: An Essential Element of Health Equity Achieving Health Equity: A Guide for Health Care Organizations Using Data to Reduce Disparities and Improve Quality: A Guide for Health Care Organizations

What Is Health Equity? And What Difference Does a Definition Make? An Executive Summary from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

What Is Health Equity? A Definition For general purposes, health equity can be defined as: Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care. The following should be added when the definition is used to guide measurement; without measurement there is no accountability: For the purposes of measurement, health equity means reducing and ultimately eliminating disparities in health and its determinants that adversely affect excluded or marginalized groups. Read the Executive Summary here. The complete report can be found here. Braveman P, Arkin E, Orleans T, Proctor D, and Plough A. What Is Health Equity? And What Difference Does a Definition Make? Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2017. Resources for learning more about health equity: Five Experts Reflect on the Health Equity Implications of the Pandemic Black Americans Are Getting Vaccinated at Lower Rates Than White Americans

Clinic Virtual Tours and Videos

Clinic Virtual Tours Region 7 has decided to take virtual tours of each others' clinics since visiting in person isn't feasible at this point. Using a free and easy-to-use website each clinic called Animoto (Free video maker | Create your own video easily - Animoto), region members are taking turns showcasing their clinics. Watch the first two: Community Care Clinic of Dare Albemarle Hospital Foundation Community Care Clinic Hands of Hope Medical Clinic - Patient Appreciation Video Share Your Video - If you have a video that showcases your clinic, send Mark the link and it will be put in an upcoming newsletters. You can also create a short Animoto virtual tour video so everyone can see your clinic.

Articles, Resources & News of Interest

COVID-19 & Latino Communities NCAFCC member clinic Camino Community Center conducted a survey in February that examined the impact of COVID-19 on the Latino community. The findings show that even a year into the pandemic, Latinos still report being disproportionately impacted by the virus. You can read the results of the survey here. Flu Vaccine Update The NCAFCC will be asking Walgreens if they will be able to provide flu vaccines for you again this year. In the meantime, here are a couple sources for you that the NAFC recently shared with NAFC members. Medline Flu Vaccine Afaxys Program Includes adult, pediatric, and 65+ vaccines Includes vials and pre-filled syringes Quadrivalent vaccine Can pre-book and update orders through July 15, 2021; after that order becomes final. Guaranteed 20% return per item purchased (unused and unopened) when returned between January 1 and April 1, 2022. FET is included in price listed. Please email [email protected] if you would like to get connected with Medline directly. Click here for their pre-book form and here for an account application if you have never ordered from them before. Henry Schein Pre-book Flu Vaccine Clinics must already have an account with Henry Schein Medical in order to pre-book. Clinics will be able to adjust/modify/delete their orders as long as it’s before the vaccines are delivered. Vaccines are delivered in August-early September Link to order: https://mobile.henryschein.com/FluOrder/Account/LoginCustomer Clinics’ Henry Schein Medical account number is the User ID, the password would be the clinic zip code Pricing is seen once you log in, though for your review I have taken a screenshot and attached. Questions may be sent to [email protected] or (252) 327-8833. North Carolina COVID-19 Information Hub

Updated Logo Reflects All Members We have redesigned our logo to show the public that the association is made up of a diverse group of clinics and services provided by clinics are just as diverse. Both the Member and the Accredited Member logos can be found in the Members Only section on our website. Please download the appropriate logo and display it prominently on your website.

Upcoming Region Meetings

April

07xxRegion 7 Meeting / 10 - 12:00 noon 14xxRegion 5 Meeting / 10 - 12:00 noon 19xxRegion 1/NC Nonprofit Pathways / 1 - 2:30 20xxRegion 2 Meeting / 10 - 12:00 noon 21xxRegion 3 Meeting / 10 - 12:00 noon 22xxRegion 6 Meeting / 1 - 2:30 p.m. 26xxRegion 4 Meeting / 1 - 3:00 p.m.

Staff Members

Randy Jordan Chief Executive Officer ext. 104 Mark Scheerer Deputy Director ext. 101 Cindy Jones, RCP Director of Quality & Clinical Support ext. 103 Allison Kelly COVID-19 Grant Manager ext. 105

www.ncafcc.org 336-251-1111

Board of Directors

Board Chair Tony Price Moore Free and Charitable Clinic Vice Chair Tracy Salisbury* Open Door Clinic of Alamance County Secretary Krista Woolly, MS Community Care Clinic of Rowan Treasurer John Price, MPA ORH - Retired April Cook, MBA, Past Chair, NCAFCC Lake Norman Community Health Clinic Sherri Fisher The Good Samaritan Clinic of Morganton Andy Kurtzman, MHCA Scotland Community Health Clinic Sissy Lee-Elmore, MBA, MPA WATCH Healthcare Program Past Chair Janet Jarrett Albemarle Hospital Foundation Community Care Clinic Michael Lischke, EdD, MPH Northwest AHEC WFU School of Medicine John Mills, CPC ECHO *Tracy passed away on December 5, 2020. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her and were impacted by her tremendous spirit, kindness, and love of life.

Community Partners

‌

‌