UMass FMCH Tuesday Talk - December 3, 2024/CLINICAL

Welcome to the FMCH Tuesday Talk. Please continue to send us your announcements, celebrations, and accomplishments to FMCHtuesdaytalk@umassmed.edu. 

Table of Contents

Message From the Chair

Upcoming Events

Focus of the Week - Clinical

Announcements

Presentations and Publications

Frankly Speaking Podcast

Department Resources

Wellness Resources

Yoga Class

Message From the Chair

I hope you all had a wonderful and restorative Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. I am grateful to you all for your service and commitment to our missions.

I want to acknowledge how special it has been to see our department recognized at the Special Investiture on November 20th, with receipt of our first endowed chair- the UMass Memorial Ledwith Chair in Family and Community Medicine. I was thrilled to have Jim Ledwith’s family join me, as well as members of the department in the audience and online. My comments accepting this honor will be shared in Family Medicine Moments this week.

As we continue to celebrate our 50th anniversary, I hope you all have March 15th, 2025 reserved on your calendar. Our afternoon of Celebrating the Past - Imagining the Future will include a casual networking lunch followed by a program that explores the role of family medicine in health and health justice. We have a great lineup of speakers and will share more in the future. We are seeking sponsorships and have raised over $20,000 to date. This will allow student and residents to attend as they are “adopted” by our sponsors. Please plan to join us and celebrate our legacy and imagine our future.

Upcoming Events

FMCH Grand Rounds

Tuesday, December 3rd, 12:00 - 1:00pm, "Views of Family Medicine: Retrospective, Prospective, and Introspective", presented by Ronald Adler, MD, FAAFP, and

Benjamin Adler, MD.

Meeting ID: 191 986 273 Passcode: FMCH

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/191986273?pwd=NEtlZmNkdWlSUGwyeTJQU3dCeUs1QT09

FMCH Annual ABFM KSA - Asthma

Thursday, December 5th, 7:45 - 10:00am, presented by Nathan Macedo, MD, and Mmaserame Gaefele, MD. Registration is required. Registration form.

Long COVID is noted among many of the items of high priority with the newly appointed CDC Director. The risks of long-term COVID-19 are listed below.

• Anyone who has had the COVID-19 infection before can get Long COVID-19. Those with the highest risk include:
• Women
• Hispanic and Latino people
• People who have experienced more severe COVID-19 illness, especially those who were hospitalized or needed intensive care
• People with underlying health conditions and adults who are 65 or older
• People who did not get a COVID-19 vaccine

Additional information about Long COVID can be found on the CDC page.

Current UMass hospital data for COVID-19

• The current 7-day positivity rate in the ED is 11.4%.
• In-house confirmed positive count as of 12/3 is 21 (52% are primary COVID cases).
• Active cases in the prior 7 days, 257.
• Among the in-house patients with COVID, 90% are fully vaccinated.

System True North Goal for 2025

The UMass True North Goal for FY2025 is " Closing the disparity gap in SDOH screening." This is in alignment with the National Healthy People 2030 goals.

How does the US compare to other countries in health outcomes and overall health?

• Life expectancy in the U.S. has rebounded slightly since the peak of COVID-19 but remains far below peer countries.
• Premature death rates are the highest among comparable countries.
• Maternal mortality rates are the highest among comparable countries.

Announcements



Equip 2025: a program for mid-career women faculty. There will be 6 two-hour sessions from January to March 2025. The program is looking for 8 faculty participants with diverse professional and personal backgrounds with a focus on mid-career women at the rank of assistant professor for 6+ years or associate professor. Faculty must have protected time for this program from their chair and/or supervisor. Please complete this brief form to nominate 1-2 faculty members for this program: https://umassmed.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eJTih0vwCOLDltk Please email jennifer.reidy@umassmemorial.org with any questions. 

Joint Ob/Gyn, FM and Anesthesia Grand Rounds Lecture with Rachel Somerstein, PhD: Wednesday, December 4th, 2024, 7:00-8:00am, Memorial Amphitheater and virtual. Sign up form: https://forms.office.com/r/0ivt820C4g.



CIPC presents Working Together: Treating the Whole Person with Chronic Pain

This six-hour training is focused on a collaborative care model between behavioral health clinicians and primary care clinicians caring for patients with chronic pain. This webinar will take place on December 6th, 2024 from 10:30am-5:30pm. CMEs are available through the American Association of Family Physicians (AAFP) and American Psychological Association (APA). Learn more using the link below!  Register today: 

https://www.umassmed.edu/cipc/webinars-short-courses/webinars/working-together-treating-the-whole-person-with-chronic-pain/

All UMass Memorial clinical caregivers must report whether they have received or are declining to receive the fall 2024 COVID-19 and flu vaccines by December 15th.

Reporting is an online process using the Qyk Vaccine Reporting Tool.* To log in to the Qyk tool, use your standard UMass Memorial Health network ID and password. This is the same method you use to log on to the UMass Clinical network each day with your 15-digit (or longer) password. Remember, your Network ID is not the same as your email address. 

Important links below - please act today:

• Use the Qyk Vaccination Reporting Tool to upload proof of vaccination or to decline either vaccine.
• Visit vaccines.gov to learn where else caregivers can receive the flu and COVID-19 vaccines. Most local pharmacies are offering them.
• Learn more on the Hub about our mandatory vaccine reporting requirement.

*IMPORTANT: Individuals who do not have access to the Qyk tool must send their vaccine documentation directly to their organization or school for proper filing. Thank you for helping us ensure we meet this critical reporting deadline.

Call for Submissions: The Interstitium          

Submission Deadline: December 20th, 2024 by 11:59 PM.

The Interstitium, UMass Medical School’s journal of medical humanities, is now accepting submissions for our upcoming issue, ‘Our Neighborhood.’ This issue hopes to highlight the voices of the people we care for, especially individuals in our community who have previously felt overlooked in medical settings. In addition to patient testimonials, we hope to receive stories and artwork that showcase the importance of the patient’s point of view.

How to Submit: Please email submissions to theinterstitiumumassmed.@gmail.com 

with the subject line “Submission: [Your Name].” 

Med Moth is looking for speakers at its winter event Wednesday January 8th, 2025 at 5:30 pm in the Albert Sherman Center Multi-Purpose Room (Cafeteria). Med Moth is an event based on The Moth Story Hour where 6-8 members of the UMass Community (SOM, GSN, GSBS, GME, and Baystate) share stories for 5-10 minutes each. Past talks have been about the speaker's journey into medicine, meaningful patient encounters, or other experiences that have shaped one's personal or professional identity in health care. Some have been humorous (a horrible first day of internship) and others have been more serious (coping with the guilt of making a medical error) but the topic is up to the speaker. We seek to highlight a diverse collection of voices and capture the richness of experiences of the members of our UMass-Chan community. 

Those interested in sharing a story can contact the event organizers, Aly Wayne (alysandria.wayne@umassmed.edu) or Mariam Tolba (mariam.tolba@umassmed.edu). Talks do not need to be scripted or pre-approved.

Mass AFP is offering a FREE 1 hour virtual CME program.

Wednesday, January 15th, 2024 at 7:00pm.

Topic: What is Integrative Medicine and what can it offer for (you and your patients') mental health?

Speaker: Andrea Gordon, MD 

Register here: https://massafp.org/event-5939342

The 2025 Faculty for Tomorrow Workshop for Residents will be held on May 3rd, 2025 as part of the STFM Annual Spring Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. See link for additional information.

https://www.stfm.org/awardsscholarships/scholarships/facultyfortomorrowresidentscholarship/overview/

Presentations and Publications

Philip Day co-authored a paper that evaluated the impact of the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision on themes relevant to reproductive healthcare and training. You can find the paper, published in Annals of Family Medicine, here.

An editorial, Planned Parenthood now has an unwelcome neighbor, was printed in the Worcester Telegram on December 1st, authored by members of the UMass Chan Reproductive Justice Advocacy Group Drs. Golding, Gracey, Gwaltney, Kumaraswami, Mahajan, Shields, Silk, and Rosen, with students Hope Koene, Ashleigh Masucci, and Jennifer Marino (all AHEC Scholars).

Hugh Silk and Judy Savageau (posthumously) along with former UMass Chan medical student Mack Jones had their paper Evaluation of a Spiral Oral Health Curriculum for Medical Students at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School published in Journal of Dental Education .2024: 1-9.

Frankly Speaking Podcast

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

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frankly-speaking-about-family-medicine/id1194659367.

Please join us for an overview: Listen in as we discuss how bright light therapy extends beyond seasonal affective disorder, potentially offering benefits for nonseasonal depression. Learn how to counsel patients effectively on its use and integrate this treatment into your practice, enhancing patient care and broadening treatment strategies for depression. Guest: Alan M. Ehrlich, MD, FAAFP, 

presents: "Teenage Suicide and Social Media Use". - Frankly Speaking Ep 409.

Department Resources

Resources to promote Family Medicine Proud and celebrate our 50th Anniversary: a PowerPoint template, Zoom backgrounds, logo, etc:  https://www.umassmed.edu/fmch/faculty-resources/department-logos/

Past editions of the Tuesday Talk are available at 

https://www.umassmed.edu/fmch/ under Resources.

Wellness Resources

The UMass Memorial Caring for Caregivers Program is available at 508-334-HELP,

EAP at 866-263-3525, and the UMass Chan EAP at 800-322-5327.

www.LiveandWorkWell.com 

Yoga Classes with Dr. Liz Erban



New members always welcome. 

Wednesday(s), 6:30-7:30am, for a gentle awakening yoga session led by the talented 

Liz Erban.

https://umassmed.zoom.us/j/91343267992?pwd=ZHF3NHVrVlR1MVdMV09HSE5lTzdsQT09