This Week in Mac Sports: 9/15

Albany's South End To Get Pharmacy, Health Center

ALBANY — Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences on Wednesday unveiled a new location for its "Collaboratory," a pharmacy and health center serving Albany's South End that is run by students and faculty of the pharmacy school.

Albany elected officials, including County Executive Dan McCoy and Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, attended the open house at the site that is larger and more centrally located within Albany Housing Authority at 200 Pearl St.

College President Toyin Tofade also announced a grant of $75,000 over three years from MVP Health Care's Corporate Giving Program to support its programs in the South End.

"With this new grant from ardent supporter MVP Health Care, we are pleased to continue our mission of serving the South End community with critical preventive health screenings, medication counseling and public health services," Tofade said.

The funding and partnership will enable the Collaboratory to conduct preventive health screenings and medication counseling and focus on chronic disease and medication management in underserved populations. It will also help the Collaboratory connect residents to primary care doctors, insurance, food, transportation and other community resources.

The public health project, launched in 2018, was located in two other Albany Housing Authority sites. It's new home provides more space for services.

"The pandemic shone a bright light on the importance of providing convenient and trusted health care access and resources in our most historically underserved communities, and this is a prime example of the college's commitment to meeting that need," Mayor Sheehan said.

Collaboratory manager Sabrina Howard also announced a new collaboration with community partners to support a "Food as Medicine" program. The service brings weekly fresh fruit and produce to the community, as well as shelf-stable items, a project that lines up with the Collaboratory's efforts to help residents reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease.

Mount Sinai South Nassau, Alzheimer's Foundation Of America Offer Free Memory Screenings To Encourage Brain Health

NEW YORK -- Doctors in Nassau County are urging people to be proactive about caring for their brains.

A major hospital and the Alzheimer's Foundation of America are offering free screenings to check memory, stressing that early detection can be crucial.

A 15-minute series of questions to gauge memory, language, thinking skills and other cognitive functions is known as a "memory screening."

"We like to call it a check up from the neck up," President and CEO of Alzheimer's Foundation of America Charles Fuschillo said. "[Memory screening] should be a part of the annual screening that everybody receives from their primary care physician."

The Alzheimer's Foundation of America has teamed up with the medical staff of Mount Sinai South Nassau to encourage brain health.

Brenda Hill, a retired New York City public school principal, was among the first in line.

"I just want to get a head start on what to do, what are the symptoms to look for. My grandmother passed with dementia," she said. "I'm a retired New York City worker, and we're going through an insurance issue right now."

Hill wants to get her insurance and paperwork in order just in case to save any possible future pain for her family.

Jeff Ray's family is going through pain now. His wife, Bonnie, has Alzheimer's, and he is now learning about preventative memory screening but is personally against genetic testing.

"I would never want to know if I have the gene because that would just cause me anxiety for the rest of my life. But a memory screening where I can improve my diet, my fitness, I would 100% be behind that," Ray said.

"Not everything that has a cognitive deficiency is dementia," Dr. Alan Wong, with Mount Sinai South Nassau, said.

He said memory problems can also be caused by sleep, thyroid, vitamin issues and depression.

Results are not a diagnosis, but a memory screening can suggest if someone should see a physician for a full evaluation.

If early signs of dementia are indicated, Wong suggests, "lifestyle modifications, better exercise, blood pressure management, even certain vitamins. And then, of course, there are actual medications that can be given."

The "vaxmobile" will be out in the Nassau community offering free memory screenings.

A USF Mobile Clinic Will Provide Health Care To Underserved Communities Across Tampa Bay

Published April 20, 2023 at 7:18 AM EDT

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A new mobile health bus will soon start providing primary care services to underserved locations throughout Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.

The "Mo-Bull" Nurse Medical Clinic will rotate through five locations in Port Tampa, Tampa Heights, Sulphur Springs, South St. Petersburg, and Wimauma.

They were selected based on certain criteria, where health disparities are greater and primary care providers are rare.

SPECIAL REPORT: How distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine exposes inequities in Florida's health care system

Dr. Kumar Jairamdas, director of clinical practice for the University of South Florida's College of Nursing, said a focus of the clinic will be providing education to patients, which can be lacking at other providers.

"A lot of times when you go to a primary care provider's office, they get you in and get you out so fast, you don't even remember what happened, and you didn't leave with a lot of education about your disease or condition," Jairamdas said. "We're going to be providing a nursing model of care where primary prevention, injury prevention and education is an important staple and hallmark of our care."

Sky Lebron

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WUSF Public Media

The clinicwill provide services like physicals, treating common acute and chronic health issues, pregnancy and blood glucose tests, and more.

The clinic will start setting up at community centers and churches throughout the neighborhoods as soon as it finishes its accreditation process, and will provide services including physicals, treatment of common acute and chronic health issues, pregnancy, and blood glucose tests.

In time, he said additional grant funding could expand into more medical opportunities for patients.

Jairamdas says the bus will be staffed with professional nurse practitioners, along with USF nursing students.

"It's fulfilling a dream for all of us to be able to provide this care that's desperately needed," Jairamdas said. "And the environment is a little cramped, the space is a little tight. But we're all really excited to be doing what we're doing."

Sky Lebron

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WUSF Public Media

The clinic will start setting up at community centers and churches throughout the neighborhoods in the five communities as soon as it finishes its accreditation process.

He says these opportunities are important as the state deals with a nursing shortage.

"By expanding clinical opportunities for nursing and nurse practitioner students, we're helping produce an increased number of nurses for our communities in the state of Florida," Jairamdas said. "By providing these clinical experiences for our future nurses in Florida, we're exposing them to social determinants of health and health care disparities that they may not see in their other clinical opportunities throughout their education."

Jairamdas says the clinic will start serving patients by the summer or fall of this year, and a firm schedule on when the bus will be parked in certain locations will be finalized before then.

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