| | Welcome to Exclamation Point!,
the Alive! Maryland Monthly Newsletter July 2022 Exclamation Point! is your straight-to-the-point monthly newsletter for Maryland's primary care and infectious disease workforce, brought to your inbox by Alive! Maryland. Each month we will feature key trainings and webinars, upcoming events, job opportunities, and other resources to help you in your work. We'll also highlight some of the impactful work and diverse perspectives of your colleagues across the State. In this issue: - Alive! Maryland Needs Assessment Report
- MADAP Training Course: Partnership in Client Services
- Points of View: Provider Perspectives
- Action Points: Upcoming Events
- Key Points: Featured Resources
- Job Openings
Want to spread the word about a job opening or funding opportunity from your organization? Know a special healthcare provider in Maryland who deserves the spotlight? Let us know by contacting info@AliveMaryland.org. Alive! Maryland is here to help you help Marylanders! | | | |  | New Report Identifies Key Needs of Maryland's Primary Care
and Infectious Disease Workforce The Alive! Maryland program conducted a needs assessment among healthcare providers across Maryland to evaluate the capacity building needs of the State's primary care and infectious disease workforce. This assessment's findings raise the following important questions: - How did COVID-19 affect healthcare in Maryland for both providers and patients?
- How can mental health services be improved for the workforce and patients?
- How can telehealth provide better care for providers and patients?
- How can provider burnout and staff retention be addressed?
- How can support services provide more equitable care in Maryland?
A full report of the findings, along with a one-page summary, is available at AliveMaryland.org/Needs-Assessment. | | | | The findings from this assessment will inform the ongoing design, development, and delivery of curricula to strengthen the technical capacity of Maryland’s infectious disease and primary care workforce. To learn more about resources provided through Alive! Maryland, visit AliveMaryland.org. | | | |  |  | New MADAP Training Program Available! MADAP: Partnership in Client Services is a foundational training series from Alive! Maryland that lays the groundwork for understanding and applying MADAP and various essential sub-topics. This training series is entirely self-paced and online — participate on your own schedule and revisit the material as needed. This training has been designed for HIV case managers, community health workers, and other HIV providers. At the conclusion of this training, you will be able to: - Define and describe the components of MADAP.
- Assist clients with applying for and receiving MADAP resources.
- Engage with the community about the benefits of MADAP.
| | | | | | | |  | Points of View: Provider Perspectives | | Each month we will highlight a Maryland provider in this section whose work is helping bring the State alive. If you have a colleague you think deserves some appreciation, let us know! Please email info@AliveMaryland.org and include the provider's name, role and affiliation, and contact details. We'll then reach out to your colleague with some brief interview questions. | | | | Malik Burnett (he/him), MD, MBA, MPH The harm reduction approach to healthcare is a very important, yet often misunderstood, aspect of engaging people with substance use disorders. Rooted in the idea that there should be neither stigma nor shame associated with human behavior, harm reduction services are key to building a physically and mentally healthy state of Maryland. Providing healthcare services that are free from stigma and shame helps patients develop trust with their providers, which in turn leads to increased engagement in care. Malik Burnett, medical director of the Center for Harm Reduction Services at the Maryland Department of Health, works from the principles of harm reduction by supporting patients as they strive towards recovery and reducing the stigma associated with substance use. Read the interview below to see how Burnett helps to bring the state of Maryland alive! | | | | | | | |  | Action Points: Upcoming Events | |  | | | World Hepatitis Day - July 28, 2022 World Hepatitis Day (WHD) is recognized annually on July 28th, the birthday of Dr. Baruch Blumberg (1925–2011). Dr. Blumberg discovered the hepatitis B virus in 1967, and 2 years later he developed the first hepatitis B vaccine. Viral hepatitis — a group of infectious diseases known as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis D, and hepatitis E — affects millions of people worldwide, causing both acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) liver disease. Viral hepatitis causes more than one million deaths each year. While deaths from tuberculosis and HIV have been declining, deaths from hepatitis are increasing. | | | | | |  | Key Points: Featured Resources | | Capacity Building Assistance from Alive! Maryland Our Point-to-Point Team is here to make capacity building assistance (CBA) work for you. Point-to-Point is your CBA resource for the State of Maryland’s HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, and harm reduction workforce and your organizations as you continue the fight against the epidemics in Maryland. We offer capacity building assistance in the following areas: - Organizational Infrastructure
- Fiscal Administration
- Data Collection Management and Reporting
- Service Provision
- And more!
To request capacity building assistance from Alive! Maryland, click the button to the left or visit AliveMaryland.org/cba. | | | | | | On-Demand e-Learning Program - TLC: Testing and Linkage to Care The Maryland Department of Health (MDH), Infectious Disease Prevention and Health Services Bureau, TLC: Testing and Linkage to Care training program is available at AliveMaryland.org. Completion of this program is required for anyone wishing to provide HIV testing services at an MDH-funded entity in Maryland. TLC is 100% self-paced online! Learners can click here to register and to complete the TLC e-Learning Course and TLC Supplemental Sessions online at their convenience. Once the course is completed online, learners can register to complete the HIV testing technology skills demonstration observation, which is still a requirement for MDH-funded sites. | | | | | | MADAP Operations Update The Maryland AIDS Drug Assistance Program's Center Chief issued a recent operations update on guidelines for new and established patients. | | | | | | | | HRSA's Area Health Resources Files Diversity Dashboard The Bureau of Health Workforce has released the Area Health Resources Files Diversity Dashboard. The Area Health Resources Files provide data on health care professions, health facilities, population characteristics, economics, health professions training, hospital utilization, hospital expenditures, and environment at the county, state, and national levels from over 50 data sources. | | | | | | | | The Facts About Monkeypox This fact sheet from the Maryland Department of Health provides important information about Monkeypox, including how the virus is spread and what to do if you have symptoms. | | | | | | | | Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Indicator Progress Infographics These PDF infographics describe progress toward the EHE goal of decreasing HIV diagnoses in Montgomery County, Prince George's County, and Baltimore City. Click the buttons below to see the status of each EHE jurisdiction in Maryland. | | | | | | | | Community Health Workers in HIV Care Training Toolkit A resource collection of tips, training materials, and evidence-based recommendations for community health workers (CHWs), and collaborative clinical team members such as peer navigators, case managers, outreach workers, and CHW programs in HIV care settings. | | | | | | | |  | | | Administrator IV, MDH Infectious Disease & Environmental Health Services Description: This position will assist the Center Chief with managing the fiscal component of the awards to providers of HIV services in the State, including LHDs. This position will participate in the procurement processes for service providers to ensure that the procurement documents incorporate the State and federal standards and regulations, according to the funding source. This position will also direct the work of the Center, in order to ensure that awardees are in full compliance with State and federal standards and regulations which govern the use of allocated funds. Deadline: July 15, 2022 | | | | | | EHE Program Manager, MDH Infectious Disease & Environmental Health Services Description: The main purpose of this full-time contractual position is to develop and manage programs, in order to achieve EHE goals and objectives, and address identified needs of people who are vulnerable to, or living with, HIV throughout the State of Maryland, including Maryland’s named EHE jurisdictions. This position will manage awards provided to LHDs for EHE implementation, including monitoring the implementation of activities for the achievement of outputs and expected outcomes. Deadline: July 28, 2022 | | | | | | | | | | Point of Contact
Please reach out to Christopher Hucks-Ortiz, Alive! Maryland Program Director, at info@AliveMaryland.org with
any questions, feedback, or submissions. For all CDC specific related training and technical assistance CTS Tracking Requests, you may contact Tawanna Davis, Tawanna.Davis@maryland.gov.
Click the button below to request capacity building assistance for your organization. | | | | | | About Alive! Maryland The Maryland Department of Health has engaged with HealthHIV, a national capacity building organization, to launch Alive! Maryland, the first-ever comprehensive capacity building initiative for the infectious disease and primary care workforce in the State of Maryland. ALIVE stands for Assess, Learn, Integrate, Visualize, Engage — representing each phase of the program. Alive! Maryland is a motivational call to action to build capacity to improve health in Maryland’s HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, and harm reduction workforce. This initiative will provide Maryland providers with a web-based, self-paced Virtual Training Institute, many CEU opportunities, direct training and technical assistance, resource development, and more. | | | | | |  | HealthHIV
HealthHIV.org 1630 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 500 | Washington, DC 20009
202.232.6749 | info@healthhiv.org © 2022 HealthHIV | All rights reserved. | | | | | | | | | |
