EO and Grace Family Medicine

Dr. Morehouse with mom and new arrival!

      

Many of you know that Sandi and others at Embracing Options are busy quietly meeting with young women in crisis (over 200 this year), offering pregnancy tests, counseling regarding abstinence and STDs, and helping the girls find pro-life solutions to their dilemmas. These are complex problems in lives that are mixed up and sometimes appear hopeless. Many come to Christ as the gospel is shared and their lives turn around. What you may not be aware of is that often these girls find a safe place for prenatal care at Grace Family Medicine where Dr. Morehouse goes on to deliver their rescued babies. The young women continue to bring their new children for care at our office. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to continue the care and discipling that was begun upstairs at Embracing Options. What an amazing collaborative effort in His Kingdom! Isn’t God good? We need your help to keep this effort going!

Our Great Team at GFM!

Stop in at Grace Family Medicine and meet our new staff members, medical secretaries Michelle and Crystal. We’re so glad to have them join us, bringing cheerful faces and new talents to our team. Dr. Matthew Mack is a very welcome addition, taking on new patients and urgent care needs. We are so pleased to have such a hard working front office team, training on the job while meeting the growing needs of our providers and patients. They work so well in collaboration with our nurses and billing staff.

Our nurses, Mindy and Linda, and our providers, Dr. Morehouse, Dr. Mack, and Jen Celso strive to work in unity as they provide the comprehensive care our patients so genuinely need. Prayer is a regular and vital component, both as a staff and with patients. Our dedicated nurses and providers often work through their lunch hour and after hours to bring excellent care to a needy population. We are grateful for the growing harmony of vision, dedication to serve, and sacrifice these people display daily.

With the complexity of medical billing, we’ve brought on a lovely lady, Gloria, who is doing a fantastic job with our billing in house. She is carefully sorting through insurance paper work and billing claims as they get rejected and have to be resubmitted.

Bill Waldert and Sarah Love are working hard on the many administrative details it takes to keep His Branches going: problem solving, planning staff meetings, backing up the staff, and simply being there when things get hectic.

GFM Looks to NE Neighborhood

For some months, Grace Family Medicine has been working together with Joy Community Church to help open a second office in the Gerhardt Ministry Center (GMC) on the corner of Bay and Goodman Streets in Rochester's NE side. Plans have been drawn up to convert an empty storefront in their multiministry building into a modern clinical office space with construction expected to begin this summer. When the facility is complete, Ali Reeves is planning to move in and begin offering her services under our supervision, hopefully early this fall.

Jen Celso, PA, joins GFM

Jennifer Celso, Physicians Assistant, has just joined Wil George, NP, and Dr. Morehouse at Grace Family Medicine. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from SUNY Geneseo with a BS degree in Biochemisty, Jen recently completed her Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies at Daemen College at the head of her class. She is looking forward to putting her new skills into practice serving people of all ages and walks of life in the city.

In addition to her clinical interests, Jen and her husband Dan are active in youth work in their church.

Jessica Speares Joins Staff

Please join us in welcoming Jessica Speares to our staff as a full-time youth worker under the auspices of the Rochester Youth Year (RYY) program. After developing Rochester Youth Outreach (RYO) this year with Greg Lewis and a team of volunteers from Roberts Wesleyan College and Elim Bible Institute, Jessica applied for the opportunity to serve with RYY this spring and received one of the 3 awards offered to area college students. She'll be spending her summer lining up next fall's team for an expanded RYO program, working with Sandi Clawson and Embracing Options developing a screening outreach for sexually transmitted illness (STI), and preparing a presentation at City Hall as part of RYY's summer Urban Fellows Program.

Last summer Jessica conducted a neighborhood health care survey that identified youth ministry as a primary need in our community. Further evaluation of health care statistics has revealed that youth STI and abortion rates are among the nation's highest in Rochester's inner-city communities.

After completing her work with His Branches next year, Jessica is planning to go on to become a Physicians Assistant with the goal of working as a missionary in underserved communities.

New Staff Assignments

In recognition for the many ways she already assists patients and their families, Natalie Gordon has been appointed to the position of Patient Care Coordinator at Grace Family Medicine. In her new role she will be expanding her skills in patient assistance and referral in addition to continuing many of the daily administrative tasks that have been part of her front office job over the years. Please join us in celebrating Natalie's commitment to compassionate excellence in patient care service.

After much prayerful consideration, the Board of His Branches has appointed Elaine Vigar as its new Center Administrator. Elaine has been managing the finances of His Branches and Grace Family Medicine faithfully and is currently working toward a Masters Degree in Health Care Administration at Roberts Wesleyan College. Her new job responsibilities will include overseeing, together with our Board Treasurer, the entire His Branches budget as we move toward becoming a fully-licensed Community Health Center.

Ali Reeves, PA Joins GFM

This week Alicea ("Ali") Reeves joined our staff as a part-time Physicians Assistant. Ali has been in Family Practice for several years and is just returning from maternity leave. Our hope and plan is to open an office in the Northeast part of town in the Gerhardt Ministry Center (GMC), an outreach being developed by Joy Community Church on the corner of Bay and Goodman Streets. Several other churches and civic groups are combining resources to renovate and staff the GMC, and a clinic space is being developed on the corner. When the facility is ready, hopefully this summer or early fall, Ali will be moving across town to open and run the office.

Wil George, NP, joins GFM

We are very pleased to announce that Wilfred ("Wil") George will be joining our heath care team at Grace Family Medicine as a seasoned Adult Nurse Practioner this month. Although we are all still working through our sadness about Dr. Auty's recent departure, we are fortunate to have found a man of Wil's character and qualifications to help fill the void she has left. To quote one of his previous supervisors:

Wilfred is an extremely conscientious Nurse Practitioner who demonstrated clinical abilities far above average... his knowledge base was quite thorough... I felt I was able to trust Wilfred's clinical judgment... I would highly recommend Wilfred for a Nurse Practitioner position in any medical field.

In addition to assuming the clinical care of a number of Dr. Auty's patients along with our other Nurse Practioner, Billie Jo Young, Wil's practice will be open to new patients from the community.

CHC Conversion Status

Since receiving word from the Department of Health this June that our application to convert our medical services over to a full-fledged Community Health Center (CHC) has been granted "contingent approval" we've completed 9 of our 11 "contingencies" and have been working diligently on the remaining 2. The most difficult one seems to be securing a $20,000 start-up grant. Working together with our Board of Directors, Steve Hays has already submitted a number of grant applications. If you have any suggestions, please contact us ASAP! As soon as we're able to satisfy our contingencies we can move ahead with the conversion, hopefully this fall.

Rest assured that conversion of Grace Family Medicine into a clinic that is fully licensed by NY will only bring about positive changes in the way we are able to care for our community.

Dr. Auty Leaving GFM

Earlier this week Dr. Auty shared the following letter with us:

Dear Bill, Billie Jo, His Branches Staff, and Board,

As you know, my husband has graduated and has been looking for a job for some time. After interviewing in and out of the Rochester area, he has received a job offer in Lexington, Kentucky. We have been seeking God for a while about this issue and His leading has been very clear throughout the process that we should accept the offer in Kentucky. What this means is that I am resigning my position and will be leaving the practice within the next 30 days.

Effective immediately I will no longer be accepting any new patients. Established patients may continue to make appointments for care up until 10/13/06, which is the last day I plan to be in the office. Other plans for transition of care are pending.

While I am grateful for God’s provision, I am sad to be leaving you and the patients. When I started here I never dreamed that I would be leaving. I am thankful for all of your prayers, your kindness, and the many ways you have demonstrated to me what it means to love and serve our Lord.

Blessings,
Clara L. Auty, MD

We will all miss Dr. Auty very much when she and Ron move to Kentucky next month and have already begun looking seriously for another provider to join our practice. If you know anyone who might be interested, please call us at 235-2250.

Grace Family Medicine News

Under the guidance of our new Executive Director, Scott Sittig, we are actively in the process of establishing the services offered by the physicians at Grace Family Medicine Associates as a Diagnostic and Treatment Facility under Article 28 of New York's Public Health Law, a designation that will help us to expand the scope of the clinical care we offer to better serve the needs of the community. The doctors in the practice are at full capacity and yet are receiving multiple requests for expansion of their services to new patients. In conjunction with a major transition to a new software package that keeps charts entirely electronically, the office is really "hopping"! Please pray that we will have God's wisdom and favor as we pursue the Article 28 license and make decisions for how to grow and expand our services. As of the end of 2004, the application will be in the hands of the State for review by the various departments and we ask for the Lord's favor with each and every one!

GFM Picnic in Cohocton

Grace Family Medicine held its annual staff picnic earlier this month at the Morehouse family property in Steuben County and we all had a great time. The weather cooperated wonderfully; the swimming was very refreshing; and the s'mores were as sticky-sweet as ever!

Here's the twilight gang loading up marshmallows for making s'mores... For more pics, click here!