One of the biggest pleasures for those of us dedicated to healthcare (for me senior care and palliative care from a social, spiritual, and administrative perspective) is to attend a conference where one can network and learn from thought leaders focused on a similar mission – best practices for quality care.
The 2nd PACE Pan American Forum for Emergency Care and Global Health held at Hotel Real de Minas in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico last month, was a gift for all attendees. (Below is a photo of Hotel Posada de las Monjas in SMA, a former monastery, where the PACEforum.org offices are located).
The three-day conference focused on innovative ways to offer medical training to communities in lower-resource, culturally challenging settings through technology (tele-mentoring, digital health monitoring), and one-on-one communication and care skills.
Public health leaders in Emergency Medicine shared years of accumulated knowledge from state, national, and international levels. Tracks included general emergency medicine, disaster management, obstetrics, pediatrics, the ECHO tele-mentoring program, rural and wilderness medicine, palliative care, and many more. Attendees received CME credits.
Each track was of the utmost importance.
The most meaningful tracks for me were physicians teaching palliative care to emergency resident physicians, a demonstration of a clinically proven mental health protocol for first responders and physicians to keep themselves and others calm through Breath-Body-Mind (trade-marked), and the presentation by internationally renowned social entrepreneur, university professor, and conference founder Dr. Haywood Hall who focused on the formidable impact the PACE program has had in Mexico, plus a current international concern, health and mental health issues at the US-Mexico border.
Other presenters included Dr. Terrence Mulligan (creator of Emergency Medicine and acute care system development programs in over 20 countries); Dr. Camilo Gutiérrez (pediatric trauma); Dr. Robert Suter (President of the American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians on thromboembolic disease); Dr. Judith Tinitalli (expert in obstetrics and Editor-in-Chief of the best-selling Emergency Medicine text book); Dr. Gary Gaddis (specialist in low-resource settings); Dr. Monica Gaddis (specific issues in international emergency medicine); and Dr. Angel Rafael Braña-López public health instructor and preventive medicine specialist at Florida State University College of Medicine and San Juan Bautista School of Medicine in Puerto Rico. There were 36 other esteemed presenters.
Thanks to the international work of Dr. Angel Braña-Lopez, and New York integrative psychiatrists Drs. Richard Brown and Patricia Gerbarg of www.Breath-Body-Mind.com who teach innovative programs to help people recover from trauma and mass disasters, I was able to travel to San Miguel de Allende. Many thanks also to Dr. Haywood Hall!! It was a privilege to attend.
Other attendees were medical school professors from Latin America (mostly Mexico) and the U.S., specialists, generalists, nurses, mid-wives, paramedics, community health workers and others.
More about PACE Global Health
PACE Global Health (aka Groupo PACE) is an off-shoot of the award-winning social impact program PACE MD, founded over 20 years ago “to improve emergency and general medical care in Latin America through community-based training in skills, knowledge and ability as well as to improve medical care in the US and Latino populations through MedSpanish’s language and cultural literacy training (offering CME and GME credits).”
PACE MD founder Haywood Hall is an Emergency Medicine Specialist, Telemedicine Physician, and Professor at the University of New Mexico and the University of North Carolina. He is an American fluent in Spanish language and culture, and is an Ashoka Change Maker Fellow who works with Duke University’s Innovations in Healthcare. His PACE program has trained and certified over 41,000 healthcare providers and 6,000 lay people in systems-based emergency care.
For his achievements in positively affecting the chain of survival through emergency care skills Dr. Hall has won the International Federation of Emergency Medicine Humanitarian Award as well as the College of Emergency Physician’s Hero of Emergency Medicine Award, LATAM’s Top 10 Social Impact Enterprise in Latin American and the Caribbean Award, the American Heart Association’s Silver Award, as well as 2nd place for Social Innovation from Mohammad Yunus Creative Labs.
“The future of emergency medicine is here and it’s up to us to pave the way,” states Dr. Hall. “As front line healthcare providers we are in a unique position to be agents of change. We know the exact problems that plague our societies.”
If you are interested in learning more about Latin culture and how you can use healthcare technology to reach low resource areas you may wish to attend the next Pan-American Forum for Emergency Care and Global Health (date not yet set), or contact PACE via the information below:
Centro PACE/PACEMD.org
Hospitales 10
Colonial Marfil, Guanajuanto, MX CP 36250
Phone: 505 239-0143 (New Mexico number)
Phone: 473 733-0999 or 473 690-0654 (Mexico)
www.Centtro-PACE.org info@pacemd.org Monday-Friday 9 am to 5 pm
Another take away: What many people may not realize is the enormous effort and energy required to create innovative, sustainable public health programs, especially related to emergency medicine, which is often a 24/7 profession. Most participants, and PACE founder Dr. Hall, usually depend on their teaching income to fund their outreach passions and programs.
Note: PACE International is not to be confused with another PACE, a US federal Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly. The objectives are similar, however – to treat all with dignity, compassion, and quality care.
Resources
https://www.visualcv.com/haywoodhall/ comprehensive bio of Dr. Haywood Hall with video
https://www.acepnow.com/article/dr-haywood-hall-is-a-driving-force-for-em-education-in-the-americas/ Emergency Medicine magazine interview with Dr. Hall in June 2019
https://Medspanish.com Information about the organization, mission, methods and the results of decades of advocacy.
Wellness Shepherd 