NEA Baptist Internal Medicine Residency Program

NEA Baptist Medical Education began their Internal Medicine Residency program in July of 2018 with six Resident Physicians from across the nation. Since that time, the program has expanded the residency area to accommodate a full program of eighteen Residents currently. The program plans to grow to eight Resident Physicians each July to reach a group of twenty-four Internal Medicine Residents. Our first class of Residents complete the program June of 2021.

Michael Mackey, MD is Residency Program Director. Dr. Mackey is a Nephrologist with NEA Baptist with over forty years’ experience including medical education. Several of our Physician Leaders are part of the Core Faculty team with Dr. Mackey.

The Residency Program aligns with our mission of healing, preaching and teaching, and complements our approach to providing comprehensive, high quality health care for patients throughout Northeast Arkansas. The creation of a learning environment with a culture of respect and accountability for Physician well-being is crucial to the ability of those working in it to deliver the safest, best possible care to patients.

Applicants interviewed each fall have commented that it is the commitment to excellent patient care and the family environment felt at NEA Baptist that caused them to realize they want to spend their residency years as part of our team.

Our Chief Resident Dr. Balreet Dhami states, “I’m very grateful for the opportunity to learn from and work alongside some of the most caring, intelligent and innovative people here at NEA Baptist. The center of our team’s efforts is our patients and their loved ones. The culture of our team is rooted in our community and we hope to provide patient-centered quality care and support to our community members at points where they may feel the most vulnerable.”

One of our first-year Residents from local medical school NYIT-COM, Dr. Edwin Mathews says, “Everyone has been very supportive from the staff to the community creating a great environment for my medical training and growth.”

Dr. Julia Bottoni is from Syracuse, New York; notes the dedication to improvement at NEA Baptist, “I’ve never worked anywhere where quality improvement had so many initiatives and was so active. It is really nice to see! I’ve worked at a lot of hospitals where systemic problems were very apparent but solutions were not being sought out and it’s very discouraging.”

Krysha Harmon, Program Manager for Graduate Medical Education feels a strong commitment to our area to provide the best training resources for future physicians that we hope will serve in Northeast Arkansas. The need for physicians in Jonesboro and our surrounding area is huge. Dr. Mackey states the Residency program “is a benefit for the community and the area because there is a need for Primary Care Physicians in Northeast Arkansas, especially internists because of a growing population of senior adults. There are fewer doctors, so there is a need for primary care and internal medicine in this part of Arkansas.”

The Baptist Memorial Health Care mission is to provide innovative resident education in an environment of high quality patient care across clinical continuums, which will emphasize both the holistic approach to comprehensive individual health and the coordination and collaboration required to improve outcomes for diverse populations. Our graduating Physicians will be prepared to practice Internal Medicine with dedication, while mastering the science and technology of the evolving health care system, in order to become leaders as Physicians.

Caring for our Community

NEA Baptist Charitable Foundation is proud to offer these services free to our community and to help improve the overall health of its residents.

Center for Good Grief - The center is an expansion of the Kemmons Wilson Family Center for Good Grief in Memphis, TN. It is the first comprehensive bereavement center of its kind in northeast Arkansas that provides support for individuals who are grieving the death of a loved one. Participants can share their experience through individual counseling and/or group sessions as they move through the healing process – all in a therapeutic environment. Our professional, caring staff is dedicated to providing comprehensive bereavement services to children, teenagers, and adults.

HopeCircle - HopeCircle provides a community of hope, support, and educational programming, free of charge for families living with a catastrophic illnesses, particularly cancer. Medicine Assistance Program - This program helps patients obtain their prescriptions from pharmaceutical companies for FREE. Started in March 2002, the Medicine Assistance Program (MAP) aids in preparing the correct paperwork and assists in obtaining these prescriptions from the pharmaceutical companies.

Center For Healthy Children

- A FREE exercise and nutrition education program for children who struggle with weight problems. Working directly with the schools and physician offices, the Center for Healthy Children takes referrals of overweight children who have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 30 or greater. Our target ages for the center is children 8-12 years old.

We have also added a teen program for ages 13-17. It is our goal to teach the participating children and their families nutrition education and exercise habits that will last a lifetime. Having the center located at the NEA Baptist Clinic Wellness Center enables us to help the families become active. Wellness Works! - Wellness Works is a FREE exercise and nutrition education program to help individuals cope with a chronic illness. The goal is to help participants improve their quality of life through proper nutrition, education and exercise. This program is offered FREE to the community and is funded by the NEA Baptist Charitable Foundation.

ShareHope - A FREE support program for those whose lives are touched by the tragic death of a baby through pregnancy loss, stillbirth or in the first few months of life. The primary purpose is to provide support toward positive resolution of grief experienced at the time of or following the death of a baby. This support encompasses emotional, physical, spiritual and social healing, as well as sustaining the family unit.

The secondary purpose of ShareHope is to provide information, education and resources on the needs and rights of bereaved parents and siblings.

PO Box 1960 Jonesboro, AR 72403 870.936.8479 • Fax 870.934.3632 www.NEABaptistFoundation.org @NEABaptgiving

Foundation update Life has changed so much over the past eight months. From mask wearing to social distancing, the way we function and how we go about our daily activities looks so very different than it did a year ago. Important events like weddings, graduations, and founDaTIon uPDaTe birthday parties have been postponed or scaled back reducing the joyous celebrations we use to mark the watershed moments in life. The lack of these moments coupled with a never ceasing news cycle of pandemic overload has caused this year to appear heavier and darker than normal. Between this emotional turmoil and compounded financial needs due to less hours or a lost job, many find themselves seeking help in our community.

The NEA Baptist Charitable Foundation, like many non-profit organizations, has seen an increase in the demand for services during this pandemic. From the Grief Center to Medicine Assistance, it’s during times like these that more and more people are needing help from one of our six programs. Like everything else, these programs require financial support to operate and provide resources for our neighbors. And that’s where our donors have helped fill the gap.

Thanks to so many of you who have given, our six programs along with other funds we use to meet patient needs have never skipped a beat. Despite this pandemic, we have been able to continue the work we started 20 years ago and meet the needs of thousands of people in our region. If you would allow me a few minutes, I would like to share with you just a few of the ways people have generously supported NEA Baptist Charitable Foundation.

Tuga’s ProjecT:

In 2018, Kim and Chris Fowler were visiting the NEA Baptist Center for Good Grief and met Tuga. This plush comfort friend was created by one of the grief center therapists and is given to kids who are receiving bereavement counseling at the center. Tuga’s name is Croatian for grief or deep sorrow and provides help to these young clients as they process the grief associated with the loss of a loved one or friend. When the Fowlers saw this brightly colored creature, they decided they could help raise money for the grief center at their KFC and Taco Bell restaurants by allowing customers to donate a $1 for a paper Tuga. It was with this first meeting that Tuga’s project was birthed.

In May of 2019, the NEA Baptist Center for Good Grief launched the first Tuga’s Project. Offered in 36 KFC and Taco Bell restaurants throughout the Mid-South, NEA Baptist Clinics, and businesses in the Jonesboro and Paragould area, patrons and patients visiting these locations had the opportunity to make a donation to the center. Thanks to the generosity of so many, over $36,000 was raised this first year to allow the center to continue to provide free grief counseling to kids, teens, and adults.

Thanks to their generosity, the Fowlers have expanded Tuga’s Project to now include the months of May and October. The couple understand the need for a resource like this in our community and have supported the NEA Baptist Center for Good Grief from its inception. It was in

October of 2017 that the center first opened its doors and has now helped over 560 people from ages 4-92.

TogeTher for her:

Susan G. Komen, like many non-profits across our country, was adversely impacted by COVID-19. The Race for the Cure, which was held here in Northeast Arkansas, had to be canceled eliminating local funding for mammogram assistance for many patients. As a way to fill this gap and help provide this much needed test for ladies in our community, the NEA Baptist Auxiliary made a generous donation and created the Auxiliary Mammogram Fund. This new resource will provide free mammograms for ladies who do not have the means to pay for this test.

To celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month and help provide additional monies for this needed fund, Together for Her was launched this past October at the NEA Baptist Women’s Breast Imaging Center. Anyone visiting the center was invited to make a gift to help provide mammograms for others. Anyone making a gift in honor or in memory of someone, was given a paper pink ribbon where they could write the name of their honoree. A wall outside the imaging center was used to display the ribbons and show this public support.

coVID-19 assIsTance funD:

When this pandemic first hit, the NEA Baptist Charitable Foundation began to raise funds to provide assistance to our frontline staff who were impacted by COVID-19. The foundation was overwhelmed by the outpouring of those in our community and staff as over $17,000 was raised to help our health care heroes with unforeseen expenses related to this pandemic. Additionally, many of the leadership throughout the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation donated to a system wide fund to help Baptist Health Care Heroes throughout our 22 hospitals. Thanks to the generous support of so many, over 3,000 Baptist colleagues were financially assisted with the expenses they incurred due to the impact of this pandemic.

We are so very grateful to everyone who supported these initiatives and generously gave to meet the needs of others. If you would like to give to support the NEA Baptist Center for Good Grief or the Auxiliary Mammogram Fund, please visit the giving tab on our website at neabaptistfoundation.org.

Robbie Johnson, Director of Development Robbie.Johnson@bmhcc.org NEA Baptist Charitable Foundation