National Primary Care Week

As AMSA celebrates our annual National Primary Care Week, we are excited to announce that AMSA has formally endorsed Senator Sanders and Jeff Merkley’s Health Care Workforce Expansion Act, which seeks to address our looming physician shortage. Read more at AMSA’s Code Blue page and sign up for updates to get involved in the fight for primary care and medicine at large.

This National Primary Care Week, we are also working to uplift the voices and stories of primary care physicians whose work embodies the heart of primary care – a path to medicine which is grounded in equity, community, and patient-centered medicine. Throughout a series of interviews on AMSA’s On Call Blog, we invite readers into conversations about the power of primary care, the unique joys and challenges of the field, and the many paths one might take in pursuing this calling to heal. Read more below and tune in with us this week!

KICK OFF: WHY PRIMARY CARE MATTERS (VIRTUAL):

Join Dr. Amy Beck, Dr. Justin Navarro, and Dr. Natasha Jost Haynes as they introduce National Primary Care Week. This 30 minute panel discussion will address the importance of Primary Care insights on pursuing a career in primary care followed by 30 minutes breakout rooms per specialty.

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PAPAYA MVA WORKSHOP:

This MVA (Manual Vacuum Aspiration) Papaya Workshop, held as part of AMSA’s Primary Care Week and supported by the AMSA Reproductive Health Institute, is designed to teach students about the integral role of abortion access in women’s primary care. In collaboration with the FIU pre-med AMSA chapter and HWCOM AMSA chapter, this workshop is led by Dr. Chelsea Daniels, a dedicated advocate with Physicians for Reproductive Health.

The workshop utilizes papayas as anatomical models to provide students with hands-on experience in performing the MVA procedure, a technique commonly used for early pregnancy management and miscarriage care. As a fundamental component of comprehensive abortion care, the MVA procedure represents an essential aspect of women’s healthcare that must be understood and practiced as part of primary care.

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PRIMARY CARE FOR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS (VIRTUAL):

Dr. Chandra Jennings, DO, MPH, MBA, is a dedicated Street Medicine Physician and advocate for underserved communities. With a background in public health from Tulane University and a medical degree from the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Jennings has a strong foundation in both clinical and public health disciplines. She completed her family medicine residency at St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center, where she served as Co-Chief Resident, and later earned an Executive MBA from the University of Tennessee.
As a former Medical Director at Camillus Health Concern in Miami, FL, and a specialist in treating socially vulnerable populations, Dr. Jennings has been recognized for her leadership and service, including being named Florida’s State Emerging Leader by the American Osteopathic Foundation in 2023. Her work continues to focus on providing primary care to individuals experiencing homelessness and developing community health initiatives to improve access to care in Miami-Dade County.

Dr. Jennings will be hosting this lecture on the vulnerable populations served by the organizations she is involved with, including those experiencing homelessness and social marginalization. She will also highlight the critical importance of providing comprehensive primary care to these communities, emphasizing the need for advocacy, resource development, and compassionate care to improve health outcomes for society’s most vulnerable.

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ECONOMIC INJUSTICE IN HEALTHCARE: LOWERING PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES (VIRTUAL):

“Big Pharma rang in the new year with a gift to itself: higher prices and bigger profits on over 200 prescription drugs. Drug corporations are congratulating themselves for keeping most hikes under 10 percent, but let’s be clear: for most hard working Americans, the household budget isn’t growing by 10, or even five percent this year. The upshot? Another year of higher co-pays and out-pocket costs, and another year of having to choose between taking on debt or paying for drugs we need.
These data tell the hard truth: our current system for prescription drugs is on an unsustainable path for everyone–unless you’re a drug company shareholder or C-suite exec. We must demand our elected leaders take action before another year goes by, and with it, another round of price gouging. Band-aid fixes like importing from other countries won’t cut it. And following the House’s passage of H.R. 3, the Lower Drug Prices Act, inaction from the Senate and White House is unconscionable. We need comprehensive, meaningful reform, and we need it now. American lives and livelihoods are on the line.”1

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1. Statement from Margarida Jorge, campaign director, lower drug prices now, in response to axis advisors’ data on higher drug prices in 2020. Lower Drug Prices Now.