The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.

-Vince Lombardi 

Thanks for your input

Thanks to those who completed the Student member survey. Here is a link to the summary results!  We hope you find this information interesting and know that we will use it in planning future activity. 

Hope to see/meet many of you at Family Medicine Midwest in Milwaukee on October 5th!

Your student leaders,

Aaron Goldstein and Kristina Dakis

Orgain gives testimony at Chicago hearing on Menthol

At their August 21^st meeting, the Chicago Board of Health adopted a resolution calling for action one menthol flavored tobacco products in Chicago. In response to the Mayor's call for action on this critical issue, the Chicago Board of Health and the Chicago Dept. of Public Health are hosting a series of town hall meetings in September to identify innovative, community-driven solutions to reduce menthol cigarette use among Chicago's youth.  IAFP Past President Javette C. Orgain, MD, MPH testified at the September 17^th hearing at the Center on Halstead.  She told the Board, "Here at the local level, I urge the Chicago Department of Public Health to immediately implement a public education campaign against Menthol cigarettes, highlighting the addictive nature. That campaign must attack and counteract the tobacco industry's tactics that make menthol so appealing to our most vulnerable patients." You can read her entire testimony. 

About that Insurance Marketplace

Illinois Health Connect held its 7th annual quality conference September 19 and focused on the health insurance marketplace.  October 1 marks the opening day for enrollment in the exchanges.  On that day, the six Illinois health insurance plans will unveil their offerings for coverage that begins January 1, 2014. "Estimates are that as many as 500,000 Illinoisans will be enrolled in 2014," posited Ledia Tabor, director of quality solutions for NCQA.   Illinois AFP leaders attending included Alvia Siddiqi, MD, medical director of Illinois Health Connect and IAFP second Vice President; Carrie Nelson, MD, president; Edward Blumen, MD, president-elect; Donald Lurye, MD, board member; and Arvind Goyal, MD, medical director of Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and member of the Illinois AFP Public Health Committee.

Do you have questions about the ACA?

IAFP posted some timely information and links from

There may be Illinois opportunities to help enroll patients in the health insurance Marketplace!  Stay tuned for details from AAFP

• Oct. 7-11, 2013. Theme is "Step Up to Primary Care."
• NPCW info on the FMIG Network website.
• Great new resource under Programming Ideas (third bullet) called "Understanding Health Care Reform: Preparing for Practice in an Evolving Health Care System." It's a PowerPoint presentation on health care reform and the Affordable Care Act meant for a family medicine faculty member or a community physician to present to FMIGs. It also really reinforces the importance of family medicine, especially by the time today's medical students are entering practice.
• Program ideas include a panel discussion that features practicing family physicians, pediatricians and internists; the Your Future is Family Medicine presentation from the AAFP or the PCMH presentation and speakers' notes from the FMIG Network. This includes a video. The AAFP can send you PCMH handouts or you can print them from the FMIG Network website.
• AMSA and AAFP webinar called "Choose Primary Care" noon-1 p.m. Central on Oct. 11
• UIC: planning an event for week before NPCW; seminar about addiction and the role PCPs play in treating patients with addiction; panel of people who have experienced addiction.   Details to follow!

If you have a news item to share, email it to Ginnie Flynn at gflynn@iafp.com.

Thomas Duhig, MD is one of the primary physicians providing coverage at Illinois State University athletics home events under a new agreement with Advocate BroMenn Medical Center announced in the September 18 Bloomington Pantagraph. 

Kristen Scott, MD was featured in a      Chicago Tribune article examining controversy of a book where the author (who is not a health care professional) endorses drinking alcohol during pregnancy - Dr. Scott, also a new mom, disagrees.

Opella Ernest, MD authored a column in the September 14 Lawndale News in her role with BlueCross Blue Shield of Illinois looking forward to better health and access to care            

Jean Howard, MD wrote a column for the September 14 Oak Brook Doings on choosing the right birth control method.

Tom Miller, MD - program director at SIU Quincy Family Medicine Residency was quoted in an extensive Quincy Herald Whig article on September 15 examining the extreme Shortage of Primary Care docs in rural outposts and how it's not getting any easier to fill those vacancies.

Sean Rardin, MD was profiled in the Tribune-Naperville on September 16 about how he opened a successful practice in Naperville. 

Sabrina Hofmeister, MD is featured in an Aug. 28 Rockford Register Star article about when it's time to take action in a heat wave.  Many non-air conditioned schools were forced to close at least one day during the first week of school due to a heat wave with heat indexes at or above 100 degrees. 

Current IAFP Family Physician of the Year Ken Nelson, MD of Westchester and the CURE Network that he co-founded are featured in the Sept. 5 La Grange Patch for the upcoming free health care clinic they will host in McCook, providing medical care, dental care, and eye exams with glasses provided on site.  It's the third such large-scale event organized by the CURE Network in the Chicago area.  

Andrius Kudirka, MD of Orland Park provides some key health tips for students headed off to college in the Sept. 5 Orland Park Patch.