Join us at Kenneth B. Monroe Transformation Center this Saturday February 8, 2020 from noon to 4pm for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Bring the family. Learn about HIV and its’ impact in the Black community. Enjoy entertainment from puppet shows to dance groups. Have a hot dog, check out information tables by community partners and get tested. Come out and help #StopHIVStigma. This event is free and open to the public.

Affinity’s Board met at Black Mountain last week for their 2019 Board Retreat. The Board is instrumental in doing important work like making sure Affinity is in compliance with regulations, guidelines and funders. Their overarching goal is directing Affinity Health Center to be the best at providing you with quality comprehensive healthcare delivered with compassion, dignity and respect. While much time was spent reviewing policies and planning for the future, they still managed to get in a hike and bonding time.

We’re proud to report that over 50% of Affinity’s Board Members are Affinity Patients! If you’d like more information about becoming a Board Member, contact Anita Case, Executive Director.

Affinity Health Center will hold a week long celebration of community health to mark National Health Center Week 2019 from August 4th-10th. We invite you to two special events during the week.

Our Cultivating Roots in the Community event at Affinity Health Center on Tuesday August 6, 2019, from 9:00 am to 6:30 pm.  Activities throughout the day will encourage healthy behaviors, including: yoga, Zumba, meditation mini classes; one-on-one with a dietician and samples of healthy snacks; and tours of Affinity Health Center. A Sports Physical Clinic will be held from 4:00 to 6:30. Sports physicals will be $10 during this walk-in clinic.

Rooted in the Community Cookout on Saturday August 10, 2019 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. This outdoor event will be held near Tite Cuts barbershop  at 117 Allen St. in Rock Hill. Free food, discount haircuts, learn about resources in the community.

For more details on these and other activities check out our calendar:

• Monday, August 5 at 9:00 am: Breakfast for clients of Pathways Community Center
• Monday, August 5 at 10:00 am: Press Conference at Rock Hill City Hall Rotunda
• Monday, August 5 at noon: Anita Case interviewed on WRHI Straight Talk
• Tuesday, August 6 from 9:00 am to 6:30 pm: Cultivating Healthy Roots in the Community at Affinity Health Center
• Thursday, August 8 at 6:30 pm: Growing Roots, Day of Service – Affinity staff will prepare and serve the evening meal at Bethel UMC Men’s Shelter
• Saturday, August 10 from 10:00am to 2:00 pm: Rooted in the Community Cookout near Tite Cuts Barbershop (117 Allen St., Rock Hill)

About National Health Center Week
National Health Center Week (NHCW) is a national campaign to increase awareness of the ways health centers are providing affordable health care in communities. A host of NHCW events that celebrate the ways that health centers are “Rooted in Communities” are scheduled across the country, including health fairs, visits by Members of Congress and state officials to local health centers, press conferences, back-to-school drives, community breakfasts, patient appreciation events, free health screenings and much more.

Affinity Health Center is part of a nationwide network of locally-run health centers that serve more than 28 million people nationwide. They are on the front lines of national public health challenges – whether caring for veterans, providing opioid treatment, or responding to natural disasters.

Highlights of health center accomplishments include:

• Reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and unnecessary visits to the emergency room;
• Treating patients for a fraction of the average cost of one emergency room visit;
• Serving more than one in six Medicaid beneficiaries for less than two percent of the national Medicaid budget;
• Lowering the cost of children’s primary care by approximately 35 percent;
• Treating 65,000 patients with Medication Assisted Therapy for opioid use disorder in 2017; and,
• Serving over 355,000 veterans throughout the country.

This year’s NHCW 2019 will highlight how health centers are at the forefront of a nationwide shift in addressing environmental and social factors as an integral part of primary care, reaching beyond the walls of conventional medicine to address the factors that may cause sickness, such as lack of nutrition, mental illness, homelessness and substance use disorders. Community Health Centers’ success in managing chronic disease in medically vulnerable communities has helped reduce health care costs for American taxpayers. Each day of NHCW 2019 is dedicated to a particular focus area. To learn more and view a listing of events please visit: www.healthcenterweek.org. To see a calendar of Affinity Health Center’s events for NHCW visit our website at http://affinityhealthcenter.org/calendar/2019-08/.

Join us in congratulating Devonda Gomez, Clinic Operations Director at Affinity Health Center, for receiving the 2019 South Carolina Primary Health Care Association’s Champion of Practice Transformation Award!

Devonda joined the Affinity team in 2013. She was hired to help the organization transition from an HIV service organization to a community health center.  Since Devonda joined Affinity in 2013, the number of patients served has increased from 550 to more than 5800.  Under Devonda’s leadership, the Affinity clinical team grew from one Nurse Practitioner and a part-time contracted Physician with three clinical support staff to three Nurse Practitioners, 2.5 Physicians, a part-time Certified Nurse Midwife, a full-time Dentist, a behavioral health team and 14 clinical support staff.

Devonda has been instrumental in transforming Affinity Health Center through redesign of the patient experience and creation of a patient-centered medical home. In 2015, Devonda led the initiative to seek recognition from the National Committee on Quality Assurance.  Affinity received Level 1 PCMH recognition that year. As a rapidly growing new health center, in 2016, Affinity engaged a consultant team to help us address long wait times for appointments, long cycle times, high no show rates, and low patient satisfaction.  This work was successful under Devonda’s leadership, resulting in reduction in wait time, cycle times, and no-show rates as well as increased access to care.  To ensure continuity of the practice transformation in 2016, Affinity developed a new policy outlining our Patient-Centered Care Principles. Devonda introduces all new employees to these principles and practices as a part of new employee orientation for all staff.

In 2017, Devonda again led the initiative to seek recognition from the National Committee on Quality Assurance, leading the way to Level 3 PCMH recognition for Affinity Health Center. In 2017, Devonda also led the initiative to expand access to preventive care services at Affinity by initiating partnerships with the Best Chance Network and the S.C. Colon Cancer Prevention Network as well as family planning services through partnership with the Choose Well initiative to expand access to long-acting reversible contraceptives. Devonda continues her commitment to being patient-centered in everything we do at Affinity.  She constantly asks her staff, “Is this best for the patient?” and she holds her team accountable for answering “Yes!”

In 2018, Affinity moved into a new facility (5 times larger than previous facility) and re-engaged with this same consultant team to modify clinical workflows and patient scheduling to ensure a positive patient experience in the new space. Once again, Devonda lead this initiative at Affinity, coaching her team and standing behind the process changes implemented without hesitation, always keeping the patient at the center of our work. Through this re-design, Affinity once again experienced a significant reduction in wait times, cycle times, and no-shows as well as an increase in access to care and patient satisfaction.  Affinity implemented new workflows necessary in a significantly larger space and worked to create a caring and warm environment, despite the significant size.

The last five years have not been without their struggles and challenges.  But through it all, Devonda has continued to smile and cheer our team on towards our vision of a healthy and vibrant community where all people have access to exceptional and comprehensive healthcare.

Check out the great time everyone had at Cocktails By The River. Thanks to Terry Roueche for taking photos. Feel free to click over to our SmugMug page and download images you want to keep. Thanks to all our sponsors who not only made this event possible but their generous donations help us continue our mission to provide quality comprehensive healthcare like primary care, mental health, and dental services to those in our community most in need.

Thank You Sponsors!

We’re grateful to our event sponsors for making Cocktails by the River possible. We would like to extend a special thank you to our “Old Fashioned” Sponsor Avita Pharmacy.