MAOInsightFallWinter2018

a publication of Medical Advocacy & Outreach (MAO) Winter 2018/2019
IN SIGHT
Issue 1, Volume 1B - December 2018
Compassion, care, and
innovation for more than
30 years
Heath, wellness, and HIV, Hepatitis C,
and diabetes prevention education
Speciality medical and behavioral care,
including pharmacy and dental services,
and counseling
Social services, case management,
insurance, food, transportation, and
housing assistance
Professional development programs that
build human capacity to save lives
Provider assisted telemedicine
integration
(Left to right) Robert Forehand, Health Educator, Neice Danzey,
Community Education Division Manager, and Thomas Stephens,
Media Relations Specialist, show their support for National HIV/AIDS
Testing Day and a partnership with Walgreens and Greater Than AIDS
to encourage everyone to get tested for HIV.
Removing Barriers to Rural Care
Dr. Carlos Reyes-Sacin, MD, AAHIVS, one of MAO’s credentialed
providers, demonstrating the effectiveness of using telemedicine
technology to provide speciality care across vast distances with the
assistance of another MAO Team Member.
Changing the Landscape
of Rural Care
ALABAMA E-HEALTH & GROWING RECOGNITION
One of MAO’s more ambitious and rewarding
large-scale projects began in 2011 and continues
to improve access to rural healthcare in Alabama -
Alabama e-Health. In early 2011, MAO’s vision was
to establish a network of partnering agencies and
satellite clinics across an expanding geographic
footprint; each site staffed with a nurse and
equipped with state-of-the-art telemedicine
equipment. HIV positive individuals living in rural
areas of Alabama would have access to HIVspecific
medical care without the burden of driving
to the closest HIV-specific medical clinic. Simply
put, through telemedicine a qualified physician or
nurse practitioner could provide care to a rural
client in real time from miles or even hours away.
Continued on page 5.

A message from MAO
Leadership
Michael Murphree, LICSW
Chief Executive Officer
There has never been a better
time to say how much we
appreciate our supporters.
Over the last few years, Medical
Advocacy and Outreach (MAO) has
not only continued to serve those
who rely on us for life-saving
care, but we have been able to
expand our services based on the
changing needs of South Alabama
residents.
My hope is that you will find the information in this issue of the new
MAO IN SIGHT informative and inspiring. Take a moment to consider
how you might get more involved. Everything that we have been
able to do since 1987 has been a direct result of public support.
Your support, whether that be in the form of donations, event
sponsorships, volunteerism, professional introductions, or just
attending activities and events hosted by MAO, helps us continue to
save lives every day. THANK YOU!
In addition to HIV, Hepatitis C, diabetes, and stigma are prevalent in
South Alabama, there remain barriers for many needing care, and
some segments of the population are being hit harder than others.
Together, we can #GetToZero new HIV infections, and improve
access to care and quality of life for everyone.
STAFF LEADERSHIP
Michael Murphree, LICSW
Chief Executive Officer
Ashley M. Tarrant, MPH
Chief Operation Officer
Tina Bush, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Laurie Dill, MD, AAHIVS
Medical Director
DaQuentin Davis, MS, HRM
Director of Human Resources
Rozetta Roberts, MSN, RN
Clinical Director
KC Vick, MPH
Director of Capacity Building
Jamil Dawson
Director of Support Services
Alftan D. Dyson-Long, PharmD,
BCACP, AAHIVP
Director of Pharmacy Services
Elana M. Parker Merriweather, Ed.S.,
AADC, LPC, NCC
Director of Behavioral Health
Carl Shamburger, Jr., DMD
Dominique Askew Shamburger, DDS
Co-Directors of Dental Services
MAO IN SIGHT RETURNS
Increasing communication
Over the past two years, MAO has made great strides in
realizing a long-term plan to increase communication with
those we serve through cost-effective means. The results to date have
been most evident in the appearance of event-specific advertisements
such as those used to promote the annual Tread Red Walk and Fun Run in
Montgomery and the first Wiregrass Breaking Barriers Summit in Dothan;
more comprehensive use of social media platforms; and ongoing work to
improve the content and scope of the MAOI.ORG website.
One staple of the early years of Montgomery AIDS Outreach, Inc., D.B.A.
Medical Advocacy & Outreach (MAO), was the quarterly IN SIGHT newsletter.
IN SIGHT was first concieved by those generous volunteers we honor as
MAO’s founders and first published in the Fall of 1987. IN SIGHT provided
updates about MAO and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Although we continue to
evaluate the frequency of producing the publication in today’s economy, we
are thrilled to share the first issue of the new IN SIGHT with you. Feel free
to share your thoughts.
MAO INSIGHT - WINTER 2018/2019 - PAGE 2
Billy Sample
Telehealth Resource Center Program
Manager
Ashley F. Boaz, MBA, MHA, CMPE
Clinical Practice Manager
Pamela D. Holton
Regional Coordinator (Wiregrass Area and
Southwest Alabama)
IN SIGHT PUBLICATION TEAM
Thomas L. Stephens
Media Relations Specialist
tstephens@maoi.org
Dianne Teague
Government and Donor Relations
dteague@maoi.org

Building and Maintaining a Holistic Care Model Requires Planning and Constant Examination
of What Works and How We Can Do More
MAO’s team of medical, dental, and behavioral health providers gathered with pharmacy services and operation personnel from
Montgomery, Dothan, and Atmore in September 2018 to assess service delivery, changing patient needs, and potential barriers to care.
NO ONE TURNED AWAY DUE TO AN
INABILITY TO PAY
Compassionate, quality, affordable care, and assistance still
needed.
Since the first cases of HIV were recorded, an estimated 77.3
million people worldwide have contracted HIV and an estimated
35.4 million have died of AIDS-related illnesses. Today, an
estimated 36.7 million people are living with HIV worldwide.
Thankfully, global efforts have resulted in 19.5 million people
worldwide receiving lifesaving antiretroviral treatment. Since the
peak of the epidemic in 2005, annual AIDS-related deaths have
declined by 48%.
Although we have finally started to see a decline in new
diagnoses in the United States and across the globe, the fight
is NOT over. New diagnosis remain in the thousands. In fact,
an estimated 1.1 million people in the United States are living
with HIV, and 1 in 7 still do not know they are infected. In
2016, Southern states accounted for more than half of new HIV
diagnoses in the U.S., despite making up just 38% of the overall
population. There are high risk groups, but HIV does NOT
discriminate regardless of belief, location, race, culture, gender,
sexual orientation, or political views.
According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, there
were approximately 14,351 reported cases of HIV in Alabama as
of September 2018, including 262 newly diagnosed.
Continued on page 4 .
MAO Dental Clinic
After One Year
In June of 2017, MAO opened the
MAO Dental Clinic to provide oral
health for clients living with HIV.
The Clinic in Montgomery served
more than 240 patients in its first
two months. After one year, the
Clinic now serves more than 100
patients per week.
Many patients had not visited a
dentist for more than 15 years,
In addition to financial concerns,
“there are still a lot of places
where people living with HIV
are met with stigma,” observed
Dominique Shamburger, DDS,
Co-Director of MAO Dental
Services and one of three
licensed dentists at the MAO
Dental Clinic. “They will not find
that here!”
MAO INSIGHT - WINTER 2018/2019 - PAGE 3

MAO Wellness Center
EXPANDING OPTIONS FOR COMMUNITIES BEYOND HIV
One of MAO’s more recent expansions is the MAO Wellness
Center. The vision for the Center includes the development
of specialized care and wellness activities for women, the
LGBTQi communities, and others. Currently, the Center is
home to MAO’s PrEP Clinic. PrEP is a one pill per day risk
reduction option for people who test negative
for HIV and would like to stay that way. More
than 175 indviduals are now receiving PrEP
through the Center with private insurance or
as a result of available assistance programs.
Rozetta Roberts, MSN, RN,
Clinical Director, for MAO’s
Copeland Care Clinic, and Billy
Sample, Program Manager of
MAO’s new Telehealth Resource
Center, demonstrate for
supporters at the MAO Learning
Center in Montgomery how
telemedicine allows a patient and
their doctor to capture realtime
patient vitals and examine
physical anomalies.
NO ONE TURNED AWAY DUE TO AN
INABILITY TO PAY
Compassionate, quality, affordable care, and assistance
still needed. Continued from page 3.
When combined with the number of those we have lost, the
accumulative reported cases of HIV totals an estimated 20,185.
Of course, the data was still subject to verification at the time
of reporting, but the figures paint a very real picture. For MAO,
this means a growing number of people living with HIV, many
who are co-infected with other concerns like Hepatitis C and
diabetes, who will need care.
At the close of 2017, MAO was providing direct care to more
than 1,800 spanning 28 counties in South Alabama. As of
December 2018, MAO welcomed 192 new patients living
with HIV into care. As the data below clearly shows, we have
seen a steady flow of people entering treatment over the last
five years. However, as a result of increased adherence to
medication, more patients are able to visit their doctor less.
Patient-focused use of telemedicine technology is playing
a significant role in patient adherence. A research study
about MAO’s success with telemedicine technology was
published in the Journal
of Telemedicine and
Telecare in February
2018. The study
found that 96% of
followed patients were
retained in care, 97%
used antiretroviral
therapy and 93% had
suppressed viral loads.
“Before
telemedicine,
newly diagnosed
patients had
to wait weeks,
sometimes
months, to
see a doctor.
Now we can
accommodate
patients as
soon as they
are diagnosed.
Telemedicine
has been a life
saver.”
- Alabama Department
of Public Health
MAO INSIGHT - WINTER 2018/2019 - PAGE 4

Changing the Landscape of
Rural Care
ALABAMA E-HEALTH & RECOGNITION
Continued from page 1.
Thanks, in part, to a matching grant from AIDS United, MAO
launched the Alabama e-Health Telemedicine Initiative and
its first telemedicine clinic in Selma, Alabama in 2011. Over a
few short years, MAO’s Initiative grew from one patient clinic
and one provider location into a network that now canvases
12 Alabama counties. As of
2018, MAO’s Alabama e-Health
network consisted of three
provider locations and 10 rural
satellite clinics. The MAO
network of satellite clinics
delivers not only HIV-specific
specialized and primary care,
but pharmacy consultations,
mental health counseling, and
social work support-services via
telemedicine to underserved,
disproportionately impacted
communities.
MAO’s efforts to integrate telemedicine
technology informed and inspired a widescale
effort by Alabama Department of Public
Health (ADPH), which resulted in telemedicine
technology being integrated at county health
departments in 37 counties by April 2018.
Twenty three more were expected to go online
by August 2018. Furthermore, ADPH confirmed
60 out of 66 counties “Bandwidth Ready”
in 2018 to support the use of telemedicine
technology. To quote an Alabama Department
of Public Health HIV Program Coordinator from
one of Alabama’s most rural areas, “Before
telemedicine, newly diagnosed patients had to
wait weeks, sometimes months, to see a doctor.
Now we can accommodate patients as soon as
they are diagnosed. Telemedicine has been a
life saver.”
Looking beyond HIV, the Alabama e-Health
Initiative is proving the potential of telemedicine
to address widespread health barriers and
reduce disparities in rural Alabama. The initial
success of Alabama e-Health earned MAO
recognition from The White House resulting
in an invitation to present at the What Works
Showcase in 2014. Additionally, The White
House’s national HIV strategy highlighted the
Alabama e-Health model as a viable and costeffective
means of reaching rural HIV patients.
Having demonstrated that the success was as
much about innovative technology as it was
provider effectiveness, MAO providers were
presented with The American Academy of HIV
Medicine (AAHIVM)/Institute for Technology
in Health Care HIV Practice Award in 2015 for
their pioneering work. To help cement longterm
sustainability of the Initiative, in December
2015, MAO worked with Blue Cross Blue Shield
of Alabama and reached an agreement to allow
for insurance reimbursement of telemedicine
visits through that provider.
MAO INSIGHT - WINTER 2018/2019 - PAGE 5

BEHAVIORIAL HEALTH
Serving the mind and the body
MAO SUPPORTS NATIONAL DRUG TAKEBACK DAY
More than 40 pounds of controlled and non-controlled prescriptions were
collected and turned over to the DEA in April.
Corp. Cedrick Leonard from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department
pictured with Kirstie Tyson Cleveland, ALC, one MAO’s Behavioral Health
Therapists, preparing the DEA submission.
(1) medical and clinical operations through
physician referrals and consultations;
(2) capacity building through workforce
development and staff training on specialized
topics around behavioral health;
(3) social services through the coordination of
community resources and referral linkages;
(4) administration through agency wide
planning for Alabama Department of
Mental Health substance abuse treatment
certification;
(5) marketing and social media through the
use of multimodal dissemination of behavioral
health information to staff and the community;
(6) telehealth services through opportunities
for substance abuse prevention and treatment
opportunities in rural communities; and,
(7) financial planning for future acquisition of
state and federal behavioral health funding,
private pay fee for services, and third party
insurance billing.
The Department of Behavioral Health
continues to explore opportunities to address
the opioid crisis in Alabama. In 2018, the
following programs were implemented and
MAO INSIGHT - WINTER 2018/2019 - PAGE 6
MAO’s newest department,
Behavioral Health, began
expansion efforts in 2018. The
primary goal of the ongoing
expansion is to offer substance
abuse and mental health
counseling services to agency
patients and clients who are
accessing other services. The
offering of these and other
behavioral health services
have been initiated through the
integration of services into:
funding initiatives were pursued respectively:
• Intra departmental development and
coordination of the OTAP Committee
(Opioid Treatment Abuse and Prevention)
including capacity building and pharmacy
• Hosting the National Prescription Drug
Take Back Observance on April 26 for the
community, patients, and MAO staff
• Hosting the 1st Annual Opioid Summit on
October 18 for state and local community
substance abuse and mental health
providers
• Naloxone 101 Training for clinical and social
services staff on September 25 and October
18
• Integration of the SBIRT (Screening for
Brief Intervention Referral to Treatment)
and ASAM (American Society for Addiction
Medicine) assessment tools to screen
patients for opioid related disorders
The integration of comprehensive behavioral
health services into Ryan White Care
programs at MAO is evolving and growing.
Contributed by
Elana M. Parker Merriweather, Ed.S., AADC, LPC, NCC
Director of Behavioral Health

Building Human Capacity
Community Education - Professional Development -
Systems Outreach - Civic Health
One of the fasted growing departments within MAO is the Department of Capacity Building. For
some who remember the early years of MAO, education and helping South Alabama communities
gain access to information and the tools that will improve overall health, quality of life, and
remove stigma surrounding life-saving care is
where it all began. Today, we have to go ever
further to make a difference.
During 2018, MAO’s Division of Community
Education hosted multiple health fairs and
wellness events, including the Wiregrass
Wellness Expo in November, and exhibited at
those hosted by partnering agencies. Additionally,
MAO’s Health Educators continued to lead
efforts to encourage the public to know their
HIV and Hepatitis C status by offering free,
fast, and confidential testing at MAO locations
and throughout South Alabama. More than 200
presentations were made in settings ranging from
Preparing for community testing days in Dothan and
Montgomery. Always a team effort at MAO!
secondary schools to college and university campuses to private institutions of care or
incarceration.
Changing the Landscape
of Rural Care
- Continued from page 5.
Over the past few years,
the Alabama Governor’s
Office turned to MAO for
advice on addressing health
disparities, nominating
MAO’s CEO, Michael
Murphree, to the State’s
Healthcare Task Force.
To date, Murphree has
been invited to participate
in three rural health
conferences at The White
House where he advocated
for policies to bolster rural
healthcare capabilities.
Elsewhere, he has been
invited to provide talks on
a wealth of social service,
HIV/AIDS, telemedicine and
rural health topics.
MAO’s Division of Professional Development was equally busy
planning, hosting and/or facilitating training opportunties that
expand the capabilities of doctors, nurses, social service
workers, counselors, and others. Through in person and webbased
training sessions, including the Breaking Barriers
Summit andWiregrass Breaking Barriers Summit, operating
alone or in partnership with the Alabama AIDS Education
Training Center (AETC) and the Southeast AIDS Education
Training Centers (SE AETC), more than 1,243 trainees reached
new levels of understanding on a menu of topics.
During 2018, the Capacity Building Team increased its focus on
empowering people to become more active in issues impacting
their lives by assisting with voter registration, offering voter right
restoration training sessions, and hosting nonpartisan Town Hall
Listening Sessions surrounding healthcare. Advancing into 2019,
even more will be done in these areas as well as Civic Health
and System Outreach, focusing on the
benefits of PrEP and building community
support partnerships.
Consider how you might get involved.
Lucero Sitz, MAO’s LatinX outreach professional
and language interpretor pictured outside of the
MAO Learning Center showing support for MAO’s
#ivotebecause campaign.
MAO INSIGHT - WINTER 2018/2019 - PAGE 7

YOUR DONATIONS COUNT
Help South Alabama Residents
Get Tested! Get Care & Support! Get Connected! Get Involved!
Did you know MAO must raise nearly 30% of its annual budget from grants
and public contributions? Given the uncertanty of government and private
foundation grants recurring annually, the support of individuals and
businesses play critical roles in sustaining afforable, quality care; expanding
prevention efforts that save lives and lower healthcare costs; and responding
to the changing needs of those living in the rural South.
Please consider making a generous one time gift or smaller recurring gifts
to Medical Advocacy & Outreach (MAO) today.
No amount is too small, and most donations are tax-deductible to the extent
permitted by law. Consider your donations as investments in the health of
your family, friends, neighbors, and community. Use the enclosed envelope for
check or cash donations, or donate online using a major credit card at: http://
maoi.org/support-mao-save-a-life-today/donate/
Questions! Contact Dianne Teague. Call (334) 315-5421 or e-mail
dteague@maoi.org. Donate anonymously or in honor of a loved one.
In the Next Issue
Healthy Babies
Preventing HIV transmission to
newborns. Monitoring the child and the
MOMS of MAO.
New Atmore Location
Developing MAO’s newest full service
clinic and education center in an
underserved region.
Expanding Services
Specialized care to address Hepatitis C,
STIs/STDs, diabetes, Women’s Health,
and the LGBTQi community.
Copeland Care Pharmacy
More than just medications.
Consultations,assistance referrals,
interdisciplinary approaches, and
convenience.
Telehealth Resource
Center
Helping providers and service workers
connect with those in need
across great distances.
Breaking
Barriers
Summit 2019
Jan. 23 - 25, 2019
12.5 contact hours
REGISTER TODAY!
MAO INSIGHT - WINTER 2018/2019 - PAGE 8
2900 McGehee Road
Montgomery, Alabama 36111
(800) 510-4704
info@maoi.org
MAOI.ORG
SAVE THE DATE!
September 14, 2019
Montgomery
@MAOofAlabama
maoofalabama
MAO