Healthcare partners
Southwest Washington Medical Center
Oregon Academy of Family Physicians
Oregon Society of Physician Assistants
Featured healthcare partners
Outside In
We could not do what we do without the valuable collaboration of our wonderful partners. One of those partners is Outside In.
Since 1968, Outside In has lived its mission to help homeless youth and other marginalized people move towards improved health and self-sufficiency, continually evolving to meet the ever-changing needs of its clients.
Outside In has partnered with Project Access NOW since our beginning. Assistant Medical Director Dr. Tanya Page says she was excited to hear about Project Access NOW’s program.
“We could always get patients in front of specialists willing to donate their services. That was never a problem,” she says. But all too often patients need services beyond what the specialist is able to provide, services such as imaging tests, medications, surgery, etc. Now Outside In contacts Project Access NOW.
Nurse Practitioners of Oregon
Nurse Practitioners of Oregon (“NPO”) represents more than 450 nurse practitioners in the state. It emerged as a special interest group out of Oregon Nurses Association (“ONA”) in 1977, when nurse practitioners achieved independent practice authority.
Larlene Dunsmuir has been a member of ONA since graduation from nursing school, and became active in NPO as a student Nurse Practitioner in 1991. “I quickly realized the importance and benefits of being involved in our professional organization. Over the years, I have served NPO as board secretary, treasurer, and president.”
Oregon Society of Physician Assistants
Oregon Society of Physician Assistants (“OSPA”) promotes quality, cost effective, and accessible health care; supports the professional and personal development of physician assistants; and advances the physician assistant profession as well as the physician assistant/medical doctor team approach to health care.
According to current president Barbara Martin, PA-C, OSPA pursues its mission by, among other things, offering two continuing medical education conferences per year; collaborating with medical professional organizations including, but not limited to the Oregon Medical Association, Oregon Primary Care Association, and the Oregon Rural Health Association: and lobbying on behalf of physician assistants in Oregon.
Oregon Academy of Family Physicians
The Oregon Academy of Family Physicians is a statewide organization of family practice physicians and one of the newest partners of Project Access NOW.
According to Executive Director Kerry Gonzales, with its more than 1,400 members and 65 years of history the Academy focuses on three areas: advocacy, education, and public outreach.
The Academy contracts a part-time lobbyist and boasts an active grassroots political network, in which nearly every elected representative has at least one family doctor in the district who reaches out to them about issues. As part of its outreach, the Academy engages rural business communities in discussing provider shortages. They have also developed a program presented by family physicians at senior centers to explain the healthcare reform from a neutral perspective.
Oregon Anesthesiology Group
The Oregon Anesthesiology Group was the first large group to sign up to provide charity health care even before Project Access NOW was established. The Group originally worked with Doctors Offering Community Services (DOCS), which is now Project Access Multnomah County located in the Coalition of Community Health Clinics.
The Group signed up 200 physicians to provide anesthesia services for up to 500 surgeries per year across the region. Following the Group’s lead, the OHSU Anesthesiology Group agreed to participate shortly thereafter. Because of the Oregon Anesthesiology Group’s participation and leadership, ninety percent of Project Access anesthesiology needs were met early in the model’s existence.
(December 12, 2008)
American Lung Association of Oregon
Project Access NOW is proud to announce an official endorsement by the American Lung Association of Oregon: “The American Lung Association of Oregon endorses Project Access NOW because it supports our mission to prevent lung disease and promote lung health by increasing access to health care for the low income, uninsured in our community.
According to Dana Kaye, Executive Director of the American Lung Association of Oregon, “The American Lung Association of Oregon is pleased to formally endorse Project Access NOW. As a non-profit organization that relies on volunteers, the American Lung Association of Oregon also appreciates the value that Project Access NOW places on volunteer physicians and other health care providers. We know the challenges that face our community can not be met by one organization and the Lung Association is pleased to be a part of this collaborative effort to make sure vulnerable people in our community get access to needed health care.”
Thank you, American Lung Association of Oregon, for helping Project Access NOW get the uninsured the health care they need. Today.
(October 10, 2008)
OHSU and Tuality Health Care
We extend a special thanks to OHSU and Tuality Healthcare for their early support of Project Access NOW.
With about 800 physicians working within its system, OHSU committed several hundred patient slots throughout a wide variety of specialties to Project Access NOW early on in our effort. As a result, about half of the referrals in March – June went to OHSU physicians. We are “sharing the care” more widely as we bring on more and more physician volunteers and other health care providers – and we still need more! OHSU’s support early on gave us a solid place to start from – thank you!
Nearly two years ago, when Project Access NOW was a big idea with little definition, we set about to build interest among physicians – our most valuable resource! Dick Stenson, CEO of Tuality Healthcare, arranged and facilitated meetings with several key members of the Tuality medical staff. When the time came to sign up to actually provide care to Project Access NOW patients, Tuality Healthcare signed up all of its employed physicians to accept 12 patient referrals per year. This wholehearted commitment to working collaboratively has served as an example of leadership throughout the region – thank you!
We are fortunate to have excellent partnerships with all of the health systems in the region.
(September 17, 2008)
American College of Cardiology
“Project Access NOW fits perfectly with the goal of the ACC of facilitating access to specialty care. We are very pleased to support this effort and to help spread the word about ways that physicians can provide leadership and service to those in need in our community.”
—Mike Widmer, MD, Governor of the Oregon Chapter of the American College of Cardiology
It is a sincere honor to be endorsed by the Oregon Chapter of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). Dr. Aly Rahimtoola’s leadership among his fellow cardiologists has led to the increased participation of cardiology groups and also led to the official endorsement of Project Access NOW by the ACC.
Statement of Endorsement: “The Oregon Chapter of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) endorses the activities and goals of Project Access NOW, as both organizations share a common commitment to facilitating patient access to specialty care. The Oregon Chapter of the ACC encourages its members to participate in Project Access NOW by providing care to low-income, uninsured patients and exhibiting leadership in their physician community.”
“Project Access NOW fits perfectly with the goal of the ACC of facilitating access to specialty care,” said Mike Widmer, MD, Governor of the Oregon Chapter of the American College of Cardiology. “We are very pleased to support this effort and to help spread the word about ways that physicians can provide leadership and service to those in need in our community.”
We hope that the endorsement of the ACC is the first of many. At the heart of the Project Access model is the importance of physician leadership. Physicians are volunteering their time, skill and energy already. It only makes sense to work with Project Access NOW to create a coordinated and supported volunteer physician network.
(August 7, 2008)
If your professional organization is interested in endorsing Project Access NOW, please call Linda Nilsen-Solares, Executive Director, at 503.413.5549.
