Thank you very much for your email - very helpful. Will provide this information to my patient who is relocating. He is a pleasure to work with and I am sad to see him go but happy that he is moving on with his life.
Original Message:
Sent: 03-03-2021 18:58
From: Brandon Earehart
Subject: To the Physician Assistants of AAHIVM
Hi Sara-
Sorry I'm just catching up on this thread. I own a private practice here in Savannah and my supervising physician came from Whitman Walker Health in DC so we would be happy to see your patient moving to Savannah. We are a very small practice, no staff other than the two of us, so if they need more services from a larger clinic like help with ADAP, medicaid enrollment etc, then we typically refer them to Chatham Care, which is the Ryan White Clinic- and Dr. Haggins and Dr. Greer there are also amazing!
Our website is www.starlandfp.com
Thanks!
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Brandon Earehart
Savannah GA
Original Message:
Sent: 02-11-2021 18:20
From: Sara Back
Subject: To the Physician Assistants of AAHIVM
Thanks for your recommendations – I was going to do that – but also I did want to see if anyone had a personal referral as well.
Many thanks – Sara Back
Original Message:
Sent: 2/11/2021 5:06:00 PM
From: Gary Spinner
Subject: RE: To the Physician Assistants of AAHIVM
Hi Sara
whenever my patients relocate, I use Referral Link, located on top right of Academy homepage. You can enter a zip code and get names and addresses of credentialed HIV specialists. I print out a list and give it to my patients. It's very helpful.
Gary
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Gary F. Spinner PA,MPH,AAHIVS
Southwest Community Health Center
Bridgeport, CT
gspinner@swchc.org
Gary.spinner@aya.yale.edu
Original Message:
Sent: 02-11-2021 03:31
From: Sara Back
Subject: To the Physician Assistants of AAHIVM
Hi – I work in the Bronx and I have two patients who are looking to relocate – one to Savanah and one to Peekskill NY – I am wondering if anyone knows of a good HIV provider in those areas. I would like to provide these patients with some provider names when they relocate.
Many thanks – Sara Back FNP
NYC
Original Message:
Sent: 2/8/2021 5:32:00 PM
From: Angela Kapalko
Subject: To the Physician Assistants of AAHIVM
On behalf of the Physician Assistant committee, I'd like to first say what a year 2020 was! Whew! I hope this message finds you as hopeful and optimistic as I am as we go into 2021 with so many changes to healthcare, politics, and a new way of life. This message was also sent out to all PA members via email, but I wanted to also share in the Community Exchange.
Throughout these trying times, the Academy continued forward with multiple educational opportunities for you all, including the Academy Exchange and the launch of the Mentorship Program found on the Exchange, as well as a full pivot to virtual programs to adapt to the pandemic. As a board member of the Academy, I can proudly say the staff have been absolutely incredible and continue to work extremely hard for all of us.
The Physician Assistant Committee recently had our first of the year meeting to discuss our goals, which are actually quite similar to last year but with more of a focus. It is a goal of mine to keep you all informed quarterly of our progress and successes.
While the new Administration has just started to get up and running, the Ending the HIV Epidemic campaign from the previous Administration is not only still in place, but funded, and continues to move forward full steam with concrete goals. As it has been stated before, we will need to increase the workforce to meet those goals.
Our focus for the PA Committee will be thinking outside the box on how to get the next generation of physician assistants excited about HIV prevention and treatment along with education opportunities. Some current ideas include:
- Sending out information to all state PA chapters informing them and their members of the mentorship program and the Academy Exchange for more collaboration with students, new graduates and new HIV clinicians.
- Having an open forum webinar for students and new graduates who are interested in HIV prevention and care to ask questions to current members and credentialed HIV Specialists™.
- Setting up a stipend or some sort of compensation for clinical PAs for preceptorships for students who seek out HIV clinical training and education.
These are just a few of the ideas the committee has come up with, and I would love to hear from you if you have any additional ideas or would like to participate or help!
Lastly, I would like to recognize our newest first-time credentialed Academy HIV Specialist™ PAs who have passed the November-December 2020 credentialing exam.
Angela Alarcon, PA-C, AAHIVS
Leonid Bilenkin, PA-C, AAHIVS
Alyssa Bolter, PA-C, AAHIVS
Freeman Brunaugh, PA-C, AAHIVS
Jasondeep Cheema, PA-C, AAHIVS
Colin Colter, PA-C, AAHIVS
Terry Joseph DuBravac, PA-C, AAHIVS
Caroline Hamilton, PA-C, AAHIVS
Nicholas Herrmann, PA-C, AAHIVS
Erica Hill, PA-C, AAHIVS
Trang Lu, PA-C, AAHIVS
Thanh Trung Nguyen, PA-C, AAHIVS
Remis Moore, PA-C, AAHIVS
Tanya Perez, PA-C, AAHIVS
Cassandra Lynne Phiri, PA-C, AAHIVS
Gina Tomkus, PA-C, AAHIVS
Jonathan White, PA-C, AAHIVS
These PAs worked tirelessly through their jobs, the pandemic, and their personal lives and still found the time to dedicate to their ongoing knowledge of HIV medicine and take the AAHIVM HIV Specialist™ Credentialing Exam. This is no small feat for anyone, and I applaud you all. Gina, who actually was my first clinical student years ago, said to me before completing her exam, "If anything, I learned a lot! This has opened my eyes up to some great resources I didn't even know existed!" This is exactly what HIV medicine is all about; you do not have to have all of the answers, but knowing what you don't know and then where to find the information and then use the information to improve healthcare is the ultimate goal.
2021 is already starting to look bigger and brighter than 2020 and I can only hope it gets better every day.
With Gratitude,
Angela Kapalko, PA-C, MS, AAHIVS
PA Chairperson of AAHIVM
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Angela Kapalko
Physician Assistant Chairperson for AAHIVM
Philadelphia FIGHT CommunityHealth Centers
Philadelphia PA
akapalko@fight.org
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