Dear Colleague,
As the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved prepares for our upcoming 2022 Annual Conference: Resilience & Transformation in Care, we're excited to open our new call for proposals! From July 31-Aug. 3, this event will convene hundreds of clinicians, administrators, public health leaders, and advocates in Washington, D.C., and online to explore strategies to support the healthcare workforce and bridge gaps for a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive post-pandemic healthcare system.
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Our 2022 Conference Call for Proposals Is Open: Submit an Abstract by March 18
ACU is excited to open the call for proposals for our 2022 Conference: Resilience & Transformation in Care! Taking place both virtually and in-person in Washington, D.C., from July 31-Aug. 3, our Conference will explore best practices in expanding access to care and improving healthcare delivery for underserved populations. ACU is accepting workshop and poster abstracts that reflect our Conference's theme, Resilience & Transformation in Care, which highlights the need to support the healthcare workforce and bridge gaps for a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive post-pandemic healthcare system. Learn about our three tracks, requirements, and more online: abstracts are due March 18.
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In Case You Missed It: ACU Has Launched a New Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Program
As part of ACU's ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, our staff and stakeholders recently united to establish a new Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) initiative to elevate the importance of JEDI in healthcare. ACU will release numerous JEDI resources and projects in the next two years, from online courses, videos, and webinars to increase awareness of JEDI issues to a series of learning collaboratives to guide and support health centers in their JEDI transformation. Learn more about these projects online, including a JEDI Champion Train-the-Trainer Pilot Program, and read an introductory blog post from Senior Director of JEDI Initiatives Sabrina Edgington.
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Help Guide Our Program: Apply to Join Our JEDI Committee or Speakers Bureau
ACU is establishing a JEDI Committee made up of JEDI leaders at health centers. Apply by Feb. 25 to serve as a Committee member and share promising practices, help inform our work, and make recommendations for future work. You can also apply to join our JEDI Speakers Bureau. Seeking to ensure a diversity of perspectives in our training offerings, ACU invites JEDI subject matter experts to apply to be part of our Bureau to serve as speakers or trainers in our national JEDI efforts. Learn more and apply in our open applications process.
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ACU Seeking JEDI Interns: Apply Now
ACU is recruiting creative individuals with a passion for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to help develop educational content and support trainings for the healthcare workforce as JEDI interns. These interns will help develop short videos, create course content, and coordinate learning collaboratives as part of our new JEDI program. Learn more and apply by Mar. 11 to learn valuable skills and advance JEDI principles in healthcare.
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Join Us Friday at Our Webinar: Identifying and Eliminating Structural Racism Within Organizations to Achieve Health Equity
Friday, Feb. 25: 2-3 p.m. ET
To achieve health equity, it is crucial to ensure that healthcare is informed by the perspectives of a diverse workforce, especially members of communities who are most impacted by health inequities. Yet many people of color are challenged by the institutional racism in work culture, often leaving healthcare workers feeling emotionally exhausted, tokenized, and excluded from decision-making. Join ACU and Pfizer for a webinar to see preliminary results from a Pfizer survey assessing the impact of racism on healthcare workers and their patients and to hear from experts such as Dr. Martha A. Dawson, President of the National Black Nurses Association, on strategies to establish more equitable and inclusionary workplaces.
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Deadline Approaching: Apply for New Grants Available to Help Health Centers Start or Expand Vision Services by Feb. 28
It's not too late to apply for an $25,000 ACU grant to help your health center start or expand permanent and comprehensive eye health and vision care programs. Many patients face barriers to accessing eye health and vision care, and while FQHCs are ideal facilities for delivering this care, less than 3% of FQHC patients in 2019 received vision services in these settings. Since 2018, with the support of the Centene Foundation for Quality Health Care, ACU has helped 19 health centers start or expand permanent eye health and vision care programs. Learn more and apply.
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Vision Grantee Profile: Heartland Health Center
Heartland Health Center provides comprehensive medical care to a largely uninsured and minority patient population in the Central Nebraska city of Grand Island. With the help of an ACU vision grant, Heartland was able to expand their eye health and vision care program and purchase a vision spot screener to assess patients' eye health and detect major vision issues like blurry vision and nearsightedness. This funding also paved the way for the health center to provide preventative screenings for children to catch vision issues in the early stages. View more grantee profiles or explore our eye health and vision care resources.
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Learn from Health Center Leaders at an Archived National Briefing on Challenges to the FQHC Workforce
ACU Executive Director Amanda Pears Kelly recently joined health center leaders from across the U.S. at a briefing with the National Press Club on "The Community Health Workforce Shortage and COVID-19." Held by our partners at Advocates for Community Health, this national webinar featured leaders from Family HealthCare Network, Cherokee Health Systems, and Sun River Health who shared firsthand experiences of the many challenges that the health center workforce is facing amidst COVID-19 and urged legislators to invest in immediate and long-term solutions.
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New Article Highlights "The National Health Service Corps at 50 Years"
For half a century, the National Health Service Corps has provided healthcare for underserved communities and bolstered the workforce in health professional shortage areas. The NHSC successfully serves vulnerable populations with a multidisciplinary and racially diverse workforce, yet funding for this vital program is far behind demand. Learn more in an American Family Physician article from ACU Board Member Dr. Adrian Billings.
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Join Us at Tomorrow's ACE-15 Survey Tool Webinar
Thursday, Feb. 24: 2-3 p.m. ET
There's still time to sign up for tomorrow's free webinar on using the ACE-15 survey tool to improve your health center team's cohesion and build more effective workgroups. Join ACU's STAR² Center team and Sun River Health on Thursday, Feb. 24, to learn how to use the data from this simple survey to make your clinical teams more effective.
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Our PCA & HCCN Workforce Professional Development Series Continues
Thursday, Mar. 3: 2-3 p.m. ET
There's still time to sign up for the next session in our STAR² Center's workforce professional development series for workforce staff from primary care associations and health center-controlled networks! Join us on Mar. 3 for the latest webinar in this semi-monthly series sharing insights from national experts on workforce action plans, using data in workforce planning, employee satisfaction, and more. Sign up now for webinars designed to bolster workforce efforts at PCAs and HCCNs and help teams provide robust support for recruitment and retention at their health centers or review our Dec. 15 session.
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View Our Archived Webinar Series on Retaining & Recruiting Medical & Dental Assistants
Did you miss our recent webinar series with the National Institute for Medical Assistant Advancement and National Network for Oral Health Access? View the recorded presentation and slides to learn strategies and best practices for recruiting and retaining medical assistants and dental assistants.
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NHSC Members & Alumni: Help Inform Our NHSC Pipeline Initiative as Advisors or Mentors
If you are a National Health Service Corps member or alumnus, we want to hear from you! ACU is seeking NHSC members or alumni interested in supporting our NHSC Pipeline Readiness Technical Assistance Initiative by serving on committees, assisting with trainings, and mentoring current participants. Learn more about this opportunity to share your experiences from the field and support NHSC clinicians working in underserved communities or contact us with any questions.
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Registration Launching Soon for Our Workforce Symposium on May 2-3 & Retention and Recruitment Plan Workshop on May 4-5 in Nashville, TN
Registration will soon open for ACU's STAR2 Center Workforce Symposium in Nashville, TN, on May 2-3: Going Beyond Buzzwords: Striving for a Thriving Workforce. This symposium will provide attendees with the opportunity to dig deep into best practices in promoting resilience and transformations in care to support health center teams. A two-day workshop to help health centers improve their Retention & Recruitment Plans will follow on May 4-5. Save the dates and stay tuned: registration for both events will launch in March.
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Apply by Mar. 15 for the Vot-ER Civic Health Fellowship
Are you a health professional who’s passionate about helping your patients participate in our democracy? If so, consider applying to join the next class in our partner Vot-ER's Civic Health Fellows. During the six-month program from April through September, fellows train with health equity experts and a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated activist and work in teams on a voter access project in their community. Applications are due Tuesday, Mar. 15.
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Participate in the 2022 SDOH Academy Innovations Showcase Competiton
Our partners at the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Academy invite staff of federally qualified health centers, FQHC look-alikes, primary care associations, and other organizations working in partnership with health centers to participate in the 2022 SDOH Academy Innovations Showcase Competition: Helping Health Centers Build Healthier Communities. This interactive training opportunity will allow health centers to learn about SDOH and showcase their SDOH innovations. View the archived kickoff webinar and learn more about how to get involved!
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ACU is always here for you: if we can do anything to better support your work to improve care and advocate for patients who are underserved, please contact our Executive Director Amanda Pears Kelly with any feedback. Thank you for all that you do.
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