HCD Headlines 1-23-2024

Rachael
Jan 23, 2024
3 min read

In one of our meetings this past week, we were told some great advice:

You either eat food like medicine or you eat your medicine like food.

Great insight for those of us looking to start healthier habits this year!

February Schedule

The schedule for February is available. We will have LOTS of moving parts this next month and we need you to pay close attention to each day. Reminder for assistants, if your doctor is going to be out due to CE or travel, we can use you here. You are scheduled per the attached schedule, but if it doesn't work for you, please let Kolina know via Vacation Request form ASAP.

Thursday Team Meeting

This next team meeting will be our final meeting regarding strategizing and developing goals for 2024. Please have some goals outlined or be prepared to review them as a department. We will share our new goals with everyone on the team so that we can support one another in these efforts.

COVID & Appointments

There have been several questions regarding our current COVID policy pertaining to our patients. There are currently no regulations from the CDC or the State of Alaska for COVID as there were in the past. In reviewing the current information, our new protocol is to treat COVID the same as you'd treat any other respiratory illness including the cold or flu. If someone has been exposed but has no active symptoms, they are welcome to come. If they have been exposed and have a "slightly" sore throat or coughing, please reschedule. If you have further questions regarding this protocol, please speak directly to Dr. Henrie or Dr. Marchant.

RAM Dental Clinic April 2024

RAM is coming to Anchorage again, and they're looking for volunteers. This is a national mission agency that provides free dental and medical care to each community they visit. The dental clinic will be on April 20-21, 2024, at Begich Middle School. I volunteered with them last year, and it was an eye opener to see the needs of so many in our community. I'll be volunteering again on the 20th and would love to have you with me! Here is more information on the event:

The free clinics aim to serve 300+ patients per day and assist more than 1,200 Alaskans. They will be hosted by the Mountain View Lions Club, in partnership with internationally acclaimed nonprofit Remote Area Medical (RAM).

In addition, the clinics are seeking community members to assist with event set-up, teardown, volunteer food management and to greet/register patients. The more local members who help, the more care we can provide!

Volunteers are needed Friday from 10am-6pm, Saturday 5am-6pm, and Sunday 5am to 6pm each weekend. Clinicians can come at 6am to 3pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Meals will be provided, free volunteer t-shirts to keep, and we can provide certified volunteer hours to those who request it (military, nursing, clinicians, cadets, etc)!

Interested in volunteering? Sign up online today!

Questions? Contact Patrick Campaign, OD at 206-580-3307 or alaskahealthclinic@gmail.com.

Communication Skills

One of the topics for this team meeting will be reviewing verbal softeners and improving our listening skills. Please watch the video below for the section on "Body Language." It starts right at that section, but just in case you have trouble with the clip, the part to watch starts at 28:46 and ends at 34:45. This is about 7 minutes long. We will review some of the things he mentions herein.

Send an emoji or meme about your favorite word in body language to your department peeps... Examples: 👀 oye, or 🤷‍♀️ dunno, 🤦‍♂️ yeesh.

Today's headlines are worth 15 minutes for reading and watching if you do this at home. Thank you all! See you at the meeting on Thursday!