| change-tomorrow-by-giving-today | Change Tomorrow by Giving Today | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/thrive/2024/change-tomorrow-by-giving-today | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/thrive/2024/foundation-scholarship-graphic-purple-645x425px.png" class="pull-right" alt="Scholarship and Diversity Advancement Fund graphic" /></div>
<h5>December 11, 2024</h5>
<h2>Change Tomorrow by Giving Today</h2>
<p>
<em>Supporting future physicians in medical school</em>
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<p>
Casting a vision for a future where Washington's physician population mirrors the population it serves, the WSMA Foundation's board of directors launched the Scholarship and Diversity Advancement Fund in late 2022.
</p>
<p>
Our fundraising efforts continue, with donations from the WSMA, the WSMA Foundation, Physicians Insurance, Foundation board members, WSMA board members, and many WSMA members and other interested supporters bringing the endowment fund total to $1.25 million to date.
</p>
<p>
At its recent meeting, the Foundation board committed to distributing scholarships as soon as possible, with an eye toward providing its first scholarship for the 2026 school year. To offer a significant five-figure scholarship, fundraising is depending upon a grassroots funding effort to push the fund to $1.5 million by June 2025.
</p>
<p>
"We are getting back to our first principles with this fund," says Mika Sinanan, MD, PhD, WSMA Foundation board president. "We know that the best care-the most effective care, care that reaches people in disadvantaged communities-is provided by a health care community that looks like their patients and represents their values and background." To that end, the board redoubled its efforts to push the fund to $1.5 million by adding $250,000 of the foundation's reserves to the endowment.
</p>
<p>
By donating to this scholarship endowment, you are not only supporting medical students at Washington's medical schools who are underrepresented in medicine, you'll also be contributing to a lasting legacy that lives on in tomorrow's physicians.
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<p>
Mahatma Gandhi once said, "As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him." Today, you can help us be the change that we wish to see in the world. <strong>With every WSMA member making a donation today, the fund would quickly achieve the goal of providing one or more scholarships by 2026.</strong>
</p>
<p>
It's easy to donate: Visit <a href="https://foundation.wsma.org/">foundation.wsma.org</a> to make a donation immediately.
</p>
<h3>What People Are Saying About the Fund</h3>
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"For many, the dream to become a physician remains just that, due to the exorbitant cost of the educational path to this hallowed profession. Scholarships like this help level the playing field and give students a chance at a profession they otherwise might not have had. It reduces the pressure of the cost and lets them focus on the medicine. It helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who understand the challenges their communities face, receive an education that will allow many to return and help overcome them.
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"It means physicians who are empowered and not indebted when they face the injustices of the system.
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"It means <em>more</em> and <em>different</em> stories and voices in the lecture hall and the bedside.
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"It means patients smiling back at their physician because they have a similar lived experience and 'get it.'
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"It means the world. It did to me and to every woman I care for."
</blockquote>
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<p><img alt="" src="/images/Newsletters/thrive/2024/vivienne-meljen-round.png" style="width: 125px;" /></p>
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<p>
- Vivienne Meljen, MD, Vancouver OB-GYN
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<blockquote class="Quote">
"For too many years, aspiring medical students that are currently underrepresented and disadvantaged have faced financial barriers and other challenges in fulfilling their dream of becoming physicians. At the same time, we have too many communities that are medically underserved. This innovative fund is designed to make an immediate, tangible difference in Washington state, which is why I am so excited and passionate about helping bring it to fruition. I hope every WSMA member can make a contribution to the endowment."
</blockquote>
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<p><img alt="" src="/images/Newsletters/thrive/2024/steve-tarnoff-wpmg-round.png" style="width: 125px;" /></p>
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<p>
- Steve Tarnoff, MD, President and Executive Medical Director of the Washington Permanente Medical Group
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</div> | 12/11/2024 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
| health-equity-m-and-m-series-concludes-members-encouraged-to-start-their-own | Health Equity M&M Series Concludes, Members Encouraged to Start Their Own | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/thrive/2024/health-equity-m-and-m-series-concludes-members-encouraged-to-start-their-own | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/thrive/2024/mm-equity-webinar-series-2024-645x425px.png" class="pull-right" alt="WSMA's Health Equity M&amp;M webinars led by Edwin Lindo, JD graphic" /></div>
<h5>December 11, 2024</h5>
<!-- **************************NEW ARTICLE****************************** -->
<h2>Health Equity M&amp;M Series Concludes, Members Encouraged to Start Their Own </h2>
<p>
Join us for one final rich discussion-and consider holding your own sessions
</p>
<p>
The WSMA's Health Equity M&amp;M webinars led by Edwin Lindo, JD, have one remaining session in 2024 held on Dec. 20, from noon-1 p.m. Think "morbidity and mortality," but with a focus on health equity: These discussions provide a framework for recognizing and examining our biases and identifying the ways systemic racism exists within our organizations. Attendees learn to think critically and identify when to advocate for patients from historically marginalized communities to help ensure they receive the highest-quality clinical care.
</p>
<p>
Health equity M&amp;Ms foster a space conducive to building a community of professionals focused on achieving health equity, allowing for discussions of charged but necessary topics. "The question about whether our actions are perpetuating systemic harm is such an important one," noted one attendee. "I will ask this when reviewing cases and even in the moment during interactions."
</p>
<p>
If you haven't yet joined these discussions, we encourage you to do so for our final session (registration is available on our <a href="[@]wsma/education/upcoming_webinars/wsma/education/upcoming_webinars/Upcoming_Webinars.aspx?hkey=b760d6bd-1833-412d-b681-babf251792a8">Upcoming Webinars</a> page).
</p>
<h3>Holding Your Own Health Equity M&amp;M</h3>
<p>
As the series concludes, WSMA members are encouraged to lean in to what they've learned from these discussions and consider launching a health equity M&amp;M series within their practice setting or organization.
</p>
<p>
Under the guidance of Lindo, the WSMA Foundation offers detailed instructions on how to launch your own health equity M&amp;M series.
</p>
<ul>
<li>How to determine if your organization is ready and equipped for these sessions.</li>
<li>How to identify a facilitator.</li>
<li>Establishing a process for collecting topic ideas and cases.</li>
<li>Establishing group goals and ground rules.</li>
<li>Establishing the questions you'll use consistently across all cases to frame the discussion.</li>
</ul>
<p>
Find guidance on starting your own health equity M&amp;M on the WSMA website, in the <a href="[@]wsma/foundation/health-equity/holding-your-own-health-equity-m-and-m/wsma/foundation/health-equity/holding-your-own-health-equity-m-and-m.aspx?hkey=622c30dc-c687-4756-87a7-fcdf3c8a48af">WSMA Foundation section</a>.
</p>
</div> | 12/11/2024 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
| new-wsma-foundation-report-outlines-wellness-criteria-for-health-care-employers | New WSMA Foundation Report Outlines Wellness Criteria for Health Care Employers | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/thrive/2024/new-wsma-foundation-report-outlines-wellness-criteria-for-health-care-employers | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/thrive/2024/thriving-in-medicine-report-cover-645x425px.png" class="pull-right" alt="Thriving in Medicine report cover" /></div>
<h5>December 11, 2024</h5>
<h2>New WSMA Foundation Report Outlines Wellness Criteria for Health Care Employers</h2>
<p>
With increasing attention being placed on systemic, organizational issues driving physician and practitioner burnout, the WSMA Foundation convened a committee in 2023 to research and publish criteria for health care employers to utilize in support of well-being in the workplace. This summer, the Foundation's Wellness Action Committee concluded its work and has published its findings and resulting criteria in a new report, Thriving in Medicine: Cultivating Choice, Competence, and Community, which is now available to WSMA members and to anyone in health care wishing to implement change within their organization.
</p>
<h3>A wellness playbook</h3>
<p>Thriving in Medicine: Cultivating Choice, Competence, and Community is a playbook for organizations to start, or to reevaluate and renew, processes to allow physicians and practitioners to thrive.
</p>
<p>
Using self-determination theory as the psychological framework for addressing workplace wellness, the report provides evidence-based examples of what works for developing leadership support, empowering choices, providing skill enhancement, and fostering community. The report also contains a list of resources with point people to connect with to help members get started in that work.
</p>
<p>Download
<a href="javascript://[Uploaded files/News and Publications/newsletters/2024/wsma-thriving-in-medicine-report.pdf]">Thriving in Medicine: Cultivating Choice, Competence, and Community</a>.</p>
<blockquote class="Quote">
"There's this idea that in order to make employees happy, it's going to cost money; it's going to affect our bottom line. Self-determination theory is really rooted in the idea that, when you take care of the workers, the bottom line works itself out; that productivity and worker wellness are naturally tied to well-being and that those things aren't in opposition. They're actually in perfect alignment," </blockquote>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>- Chris Bundy, MD, MPH, Executive Medical Director of the Washington Physicians Health Program and member of the WSMA Foundation Wellness Action Committee</em></p>
<h3>Dedicated resources needed</h3>
<p>
The report makes clear that workplace wellness also takes dedicated resources and support. Wellness programs that are supported with time and financial support are viewed most positively by employees, have better outcomes, and foster a greater sense that leadership supports joy in medicine.
</p>
<p>
The WSMA Foundation Wellness Action Committee encourages all physicians, physician assistants, and advanced practitioners to read the report and use it as a resource, regardless of their leadership position. Physicians not in leadership roles can introduce the report to their leadership team.
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<blockquote class="Quote">
"Physicians can't do a lot until their leadership says, 'Yes, this is important, we want to have change to support physician well-being.' " </blockquote>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>- Alka Atal-Barrio, MD, National Senior Medical Director for Optum Health and chair of the WSMA Foundation Wellness Action Committee</em></p>
<p>
The Wellness Action Committee presented the report to health care CEOs and CMOs at an October meeting hosted by the WSMA and will reconvene with these leaders regularly to follow up on progress.
</p>
<p>
For more on the wellness report, including more thoughts from Dr. Atal-Barrio and Dr. Bundy, see the November/December issue of <em>WSMA Reports</em> ("<a href="[@]Shared_Content/News/Latest_News/2024/choice-competence-and-community.aspx">Choice Competence, and Community</a>"), mailed to members and available <a href="[@]wsma/about_us/wsma-reports/wsma-reports-archive/wsma/about/wsma-reports/wsma-reports-archive.aspx?hkey=ecc0cfb2-b1fe-4e76-b1fa-b0354d3d558e">on our website</a>.
</p>
</div> | 12/11/2024 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |