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Vaccine Clinic Offers Unique Ministry Opportunity

Hebrews 12:15 (“See to it that no one misses the grace of God.”) has been at the heart of Grace’s mission since before we opened. The uncertainty and fear of a global pandemic provided an unusual avenue to put those words into action.

As the COVID-19 vaccines were beginning to roll out, Grace was not on the Department of Health’s radar as a potential community vaccine pop-up site. Our CEO, Stephanie Garris, was adamant about getting the vaccines for our patient population and the community and she pursued her DOH contacts to determine the process of confirming site locations. Stephanie said, “Once we explained who our patients were and how vulnerable they were, Grace was immediately approved to be a Pop-Up COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic site. In fact – our first one was just days after our first conversation.”

The initial clinic occurred the first week all adult Floridians were eligible to get vaccinated and the line for recipients wrapped around our building by 7:30 am.

“Because the clinics were open to all members of our community, it was a great opportunity to minister to those in line and to share Grace’s mission,” said Pastor Omar Cardona, Grace’s Mission Integration Director.

“I just love when I get to interact with patients, no matter the circumstances,” said longtime Spiritual Care Ambassador and mental health counselor, Laurin Cash. “No one likes waiting in line, right? I approached it as ‘what can I do to make waiting in line more comfortable?’ It was fun to be outside and say ‘hi.’ I felt like there were so many people who were weary at first. Once they realized you were there as a friend, their demeanor changed and they opened up. This was a unique vehicle to minister to others.”

Grace was the site for three FEMA COVID-19 Pop-Up Vaccination Clinics where more than 600 people in our community got vaccinated. 

“Grace will continue to seek out opportunities to ensure that no one misses the grace of God,” said Omar.

Welcome New Gap Year Interns!

We recently welcomed a group of 22 Gap Year Interns to the Grace Family. These amazing college graduates are future physicians, PAs, pharmacists and other health-related professionals who will spend the next year in an immersive, clinical internship at Grace.

They will participate in all aspects of patient care working alongside our staff and community specialists to care for the uninsured. Hands-on experience coordinating medications, assisting providers as medical scribes, and managing follow-up patient care will provide invaluable service to Grace while simultaneously giving them clinical experience that may well influence their future medical path. Not only will they get to witness Grace’s mission in action on the medical side of things, they will also gain a vast understanding that Grace is more than medicine. Caring for our patients’ spiritual, mental, dental and social services needs will illustrate how they can become patient advocates in their future practices.

 When asked in a pre-program survey, Chelsea Han, University of Florida grad with a BA in English on the Pre-PA track, responded that she is “super excited for the Lunch & Learns, but also just getting to know my family interns, Grace Staff, and other volunteers who help make fulfilling Grace's mission possible! I have truly never met so many amazing people in the span of 7 hours like I did during Orientation and I think that part made me most excited to have this opportunity to intern with Grace. Additionally, hearing patient stories of how lives have been changed at Grace made me excited to be a small part in fulfilling the mission of Grace as an intern.”

 We also gratefully acknowledge and thank the VoLo Foundation for sponsoring our Gap Year Intern program, enabling us to provide invaluable clinical experience to these amazing future healthcare providers.

Relentless Grace: A Joyous Patient Celebration

Our annual Patient Celebration Service was a triumphant return to normalcy. Even through precautionary masks and social distancing, there was a palpable feeling of much-needed fellowship and celebration of faith.

 W. Marvin Hardy, Mission Director and Pediatric Medical Director, opened the event with the featured verse John 1:16: “Out of his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace already given.”

Turning the corner after such an arduous year of perseverance, a new hope was fully manifested through song, worship, patient testimonials, and a thoughtful, very personal message about relentless grace by Pastor David Outing.

Following the familiar and beautiful notes of How Great Thou Art and Lord I Lift Your Name on High in both Spanish and English, patient testimonials lifted our spirits and touched our hearts.

“As I came to Grace, Grace came to me. Thank you to all the doctors and staff for taking care of me,” a grateful patient shared. Another patient voiced that “I’ll bless you as big as your heart is,” referring to the impact of Grace’s inclusion of those that needed help the most.

Pastor Outing expressed that there is no certainty to physical healing, or a solution to all pain. There is in fact, a certainty of community and faith, which seemed to be the most fitting message for an evening centered around shared gratitude and grace.

With the words “Se vida eres tu.” (You are life.) still ringing in the air after the worship service, this event was healing and as nourishing as the boxed supper provided to attendees.  

We can’t thank Keator Construction enough for sponsoring this inspirational evening!

Food is Medicine Expands

That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. – Ecclesiastes 3:13

Grace Medical Home understands that holistic health care means doing whatever we can to care for and to support our patients. A healthy diet builds the framework of a healthy lifestyle, yet many of our patients and their families suffer from food insecurity, unable to regularly access healthy food. The challenges of the past year further exacerbated many of their already tenuous situations. “Over 40 percent of people sought food coverage during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Karen Broussard, Chief Community Impact Officer of Second Harvest Food Bank.

Food is Medicine began three years ago in partnership with the Second Harvest Food Bank and the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation to provide healthy food boxes to our pediatric patients. Thanks to a generous grant from Orlando Health, Grace Medical Home is expanding as an official closed food pantry through the Second Harvest Food Bank, providing healthy food bags to eligible adult patients at Grace. Food bags include proteins, healthy grains/oats and fresh fruits and vegetables.

Once enrolled in the program, in addition to receiving healthy food, patients will have continuous check-ins with our nutrition and social services teams to provide healthy food tips and additional ongoing support. “Nine families were grateful to benefit from the inaugural run of the drive-through food pick-up. We look forward to growing the program to distribute food weekly,” said Ana Girao, Grace’s Registered Dietitian.

Volunteer groups are needed every other Thursday from 8:30 am - 12 pm to go to Second Harvest Food Bank to shop and bring food back to Grace to sort (4 volunteers) and every other Friday, 8:30 – 12 pm to distribute the food boxes in Grace’s parking lot (8 volunteers.)

To sign up your volunteer group to assist, contact Ana Girao at agirao@gracemedicalhome.org.

Join Us to Discover Grace

Thank you for your dedicated support of Let’s Say Grace throughout the years. With your help, the events raised more than $3,000,000 enabling Grace Medical Home to serve thousands of uninsured patients annually.

 While the event has been successful, Let’s Say Grace will not be returning in 2021. Instead, we are hosting Discover Grace - quarterly, intimate receptions and facility tours for community members. This will allow us to develop deeper, more meaningful relationships with potential donors and partners.  Read more to learn about Discover Grace.

Discover Grace!

Led by our board of directors, this quarterly reception and facility tour provides a personal, up-close view of Grace’s mission in action. While touring the facility, you will meet team members, volunteers and patients and hear firsthand how we see to it no one misses the grace of God. You will also hear about ways to get involved and support the mission. Light refreshments will be available.

 Late afternoon receptions will be held in June, August, October and December.

 We hope you will continue to support Discover Grace. If you are interested in hosting or attending a reception, please contact Lynn Ivanek at lynn@gracemedicalhome.org.

Reading is Fundamental

When Michelle Cash, Grace’s Pediatric APRN, learned one of her pediatric patients, Melani, needed help with her reading, she knew just who to call. As a retired educator with more than 29 years of experience and a love for early education, Gayle Bosscher was the perfect person.  Michelle approached Gayle to see if she would be willing to help. Gayle has been tutoring Melani in reading ever since.

Melani’s family moved to Orange County from Guatemala. “It is really a ‘language thing’ not a ‘reading thing,’ explained Gayle. “Melani is an excellent Spanish reader, but she struggles to read in English. A dual language class is great for some children, but not for someone who needs in-depth English.” 

Gayle continued, “Experiential English isn’t something you can teach. Reading isn’t just the sounds, but also understanding the meaning of the words. Melani is not a little girl who needs to fail; she is just a little girl who hasn’t been taught the basics. She is a bright, happy little girl. I enjoy being with her. She is so sweet to work with.” 

Gayle even rearranged her schedule to stay after her scheduled volunteer shift to tutor Melani weekly. “This is an easy need to fulfill, said Gayle. “I can’t pay their utility bills, but I can speak and read English with a heart and willingness to do it!”

Melani’s mother, Mayli, is committed to providing a solid education for her daughter. She is willing to do what she can to help her succeed including making the weekly drive to Grace from Apopka for the hour-long tutoring session. Mayli shared that Melani gets really happy knowing she is going to Grace to see Ms. Gayle. Emphatically announcing weekly, “Today I have my tutoring. Yes!”

When asked if she likes the time spent with Ms. Gayle, Melani shyly replied, “It’s fun. I like learning.”

“We have seen a big, big improvement (in Melani’s reading skills,)” said Mayli. “She is happier and it gives her confidence to speak the language.”

Her mother encourages her to be brave, to be proud of being in this country and of speaking two languages. “There are so many opportunities,” Mayli shared. “We are blessed to have Grace.”

Grace Recognized with Innovation Award in Community Health from Direct Relief and The Pfizer Foundation

Grace Medical Home recently received a $150,000 grant as part of Direct Relief’s Innovation Awards in Community Health: Addressing Infectious Disease in Underserved Communities, generously funded by The Pfizer Foundation.

This support will enable Grace to increase vaccination initiatives for our adult patients against common inflections like seasonal flu. Additionally, it will help strengthen future vaccine delivery, including the COVID-19 vaccination, to reach our marginalized and vulnerable patient population.

Grace was the only clinic in Florida and one of only 11 clinics recognized nationally to receive this prestigious grant. Grants totaling $2.5 million went to safety-net community healthcare providers to support innovative approaches to infectious disease education, screening, testing, treatment, and care and to provide greater health equity among the country’s most vulnerable communities. Direct Relief managed the application and selection process in consultation with a panel of infectious disease physicians who provided a clinical review. 

 “The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing systemic health inequities, resulting in vulnerable patients and their loved ones experiencing even greater hardship,” said Caroline Roan, President, The Pfizer Foundation and Chief Sustainability Officer, Pfizer Inc. “We are proud to support Direct Relief and its network of frontline safety-net clinics across the U.S. to break down barriers to good health in underserved communities and increase access to life-saving infectious disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care.”

“These awards are intended in part to allow providers to test and improve new care models and solutions, which is of utmost importance as healthcare is drastically changing due to COVID-19,” said Thomas Tighe, Direct Relief President and CEO. “We are humbled by the dedication of these largely unheralded safety-net health providers to improve the lives and health of the people they care for.”