UMass FMCH Tuesday Talk - June 14, 2022/EDUCATION
Welcome to the FMCH Tuesday Talk. Please continue to send us your announcements, celebrations, and accomplishments to [email protected].
Table of Contents
Message From The Chair
Upcoming Events
Focus of the Week - Education
Announcements
Faculty Presentations/Publications
Frankly Speaking Podcast
Clinical Services Spotlight
Message From The Chair

I am pleased to share that Amber Cahill, PsyD has been awarded a Bloomberg Fellowship from the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Bloomberg Fellows are drawn from organizations working on one of five health challenges facing the nation: addiction and overdose, adolescent health, environmental challenges, obesity and the food system, and violence. She will be focusing her work on addiction and overdose, at the intersection of primary care, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, and access to social healthcare needs. She is one of 50 MPH and 10 DPH fellow from 24 states and Washington, DC. 
Upcoming Events

FMCH Grand Rounds
Tuesday, June 14th, 12:00 - 1:00 pm. Jennifer Reidy, MD presents:"Palliative Care at Home: A Model for Improving Quality, Equity and Cost in Serious Illness Care"
Meeting ID: 191 986 273 Passcode: FMCH
Focus of the Week - Education

Please join us tonight in celebrating our WFMR community at the 2022 Awards Ceremony!
Tuesday, June 14th, 2022, 8:00 - 9:00 PM Eastern Time
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://umassmed.zoom.us/j/98003108978?pwd=NDhQZ0NqZjZQS0tBbFpNZWE5QzFtZz09 Password: 56789

Graduations ABOUND.
Congratulations to our many GME graduates with upcoming celebrations!
  • Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Graduation was held Friday, June 3rd
  • Preventive Medicine Fellowship graduation celebration: Wednesday, June 15th 
  • Worcester Family Medicine Residency graduation Celebration: Friday, June 17th including Sports Medicine Fellowship Graduation and Behavioral Health Fellowship 
  • Fitchburg Family Medicine Residency Graduation Celebration: Friday, June 24th
  • Worcester Family Medicine Residency Awards Ceremony Tuesday June 21st 
Announcements

The work of NEAETC was highlighted in a blog by Harold Philips, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy for The White House. NEAETC has launched a four-part webinar series on providing mental health care to people with HIV in primary care settings, covering depression, pharmacotherapy for depression, anxiety disorders, and trauma- and stressor-related disorders. Three of the sessions are led by Jordan Howard-Young. The blog is here: The Key Role of Mental Health Services in Ending the HIV Epidemic | HIV.gov.

FMEC Annual Conference - Opportunity for Students
Student Scholarships are available for the FMEC annual conference in Arlington Virginia September 16-18th. Please encourage students with interest in Family Medicine to attend. There is a call for student poster presentations open until July 30th if they have an interesting project to present this is a great opportunity.  
Faculty Presentations/Publications

On Wednesday, June 8th, Suzanne Cashman, ScD, MS, gave an invited talk as part of the Berkshire Medical Center’s Scholarly Faculty Development Series. The title of her talk was: Population and Community Health Research: What, Why, How, and When?
Frankly Speaking Podcast

A weekly Podcast series covering newsworthy topics in primary care medicine.

Please join us for an overview: Statins are widely used for lowering cholesterol in patients at risk for cardiovascular disease. While the benefit is more established with secondary prevention compared with primary prevention, most of the benefits are reported in relative risk reduction, which can exaggerate the benefit to an individual person. In this podcast, you'll hear a discussion of a recent systematic review that looked at the absolute risk reduction and relative risk reduction with statins for preventing death, myocardial infarctions, and stroke. Guest: Alan Ehrlich, MD, FAAFP, presents: "Statins for Cardiovascular Disease-It's All Relative". - Frankly Speaking Ep 280.
Clinical Services Spotlight:
COVID-19 UPDATES

COVID-19 Vaccine US
  • In the US, the current 7-day average of COVID-19 cases has increased (majority Omicron). 
  • The US will lift the requirement for travelers to test negative before entering the US. 
  • Total confirmed US cases are 87,331,566 and 1,035,865 confirmed deaths. 
  • On 6/13/22, there are 7,664 new cases. 

  • Confirmed COVID cases are 1,742,140. Total cases from May 30, 2022, to June 12, 2022, are 31,092.
  • MA cases decreased over the weekend.
  • The 7-day average of percent positivity is 5.61%.
  • There are 550 hospitalizations with 50 in the ICU. Of the 50, 14 are intubated.
  • The Baker administration will be distributing more than 2 million COVID tests over the next 2 weeks. 

COVID UMMMC
  • The 7-day average percent positivity is 8.8%.
  • The 7-day average of in-house cases was 27 with 63% being fully vaccinated.
 
Current Formula Shortages
In the midst of formula shortages, families are frantic. Below is some basic information that might be helpful to patients. 
Promote breastfeeding.
  • During the early days of life, encourage moms to breastfeed as often as possible. Breastfeeding frequently will enhance the mother's milk supply. Encourage mothers to breastfeed from each side. 
  • Seek help early for latching techniques.
  • Encourage mothers to empty each breast after feeding. 
  • Encourage mothers to use available resources while in the hospital.
  • Review overall health and wellness with new mothers. 
  • Discuss drinking lots of fluids.
Other strategies.
  • For people who receive Nutrition from Woman, Infants, and Children (WIC), contact WIC.
  • Contact the local food bank.
  • Try another formula that may be available.
  • Discuss alternative options that might be available and safe for the infant.
  • Talk to the baby's doctor to review options, the benefits, and the risks if no formula is available. 

AMA Updates
The AMA advocacy is supporting several items that address the needs of US physicians.
  • Telehealth legislation
  • AMA secured flexibility for 2022 by urging Congress to pass a new law to extend coverage for at least 5 months after the COVID-19 public health emergency designation ends. 
  • At the state level, they are continuing to work to advance telehealth legislation. 
  • They are working with states to improve prior authorizations.
  • They are continuing to work to preserve healthcare access and coverage across the nation. 
  • Part of the recovery plan includes improvements in addressing physician burnout. They launched a national campaign to help states enact confidentiality for physicians that seek help for burnout and urged the medical boards to remove mental health questions from the physician licensure and renewal applications. 
  • They successfully urged Congress to pass the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act to support the mental health needs of physicians. 
Wellness Resources

The Caring for the Caregiver Program provides resources such as the Caregiver Support Line (508-334-HELP) and The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which offers a variety of services and supports (including virtual peer support and wellness tips. EAP can be accessed at 866-263-3525, or www.LiveandWorkWell.com, [company code UmassMemorial]. More information is available on the Caring for the Caregiver page.

Wellness
You are invited to become a member of the Department Wellness Committee. Key goals for this year include improving the efficiency of use with the Electronic Health Record. Watch your email for future training sessions.
Working on Wellness
Yoga Classes with Dr. Liz Erban

Classes have resumed!!

Great time to join!
This is a great time to join, new members always welcome. Start your mid week with some relaxing yoga! 

Please join for early morning gentle yoga, Wednesday mornings 6:30am via Zoom.
Join Zoom Meeting ID: 923 9393 3653 Passcode: 764113
Zumba with Dr. Anna Zheng

All classes both in-person and over ZOOM are on hold until week of Thursday, June 23rd

Please note details and any changes via webpage: http://annazheng.zumba.com/. ZOOM still an option for all classes.
 
Much appreciation to Dr. Anna Zheng for hosting these outstanding classes. New to the class? Please email Dr. Zheng at [email protected] to register, complete brief health screen if it's your first class and the ZOOM link.