Cary Healthcare Associates

Wishing the happiest of birthdays to our wonderful friend, boss and leader, Dr. H!

Holiday fun at the office!

More Halloween fun today in the office!

Getting in the Halloween spirit today to prepare for Monday!

It’s Team Member Thursday and our spotlight today is on Nurse Katie Phillips, LPN. Katie has been working for Dr. Hamad since she was 16 years old!

“After 21 years at Cary Healthcare Associates, I can say that what I love most is that I get to follow patients for decades, throughout their lifespan. I get to know them and their families. I have many patients that I truly consider friends”, Katie , LPN.

We love you too Nurse Katie!

Throwback Thursday today at Cary Healthcare Assoc. to 1978 and the great movie Grease! We pay tribute to the late Olivia Newton John to honor her legacy and fight against breast cancer. Danny (aka Dr. Hamad) and Sandy (aka Courtney Queen FNP) and all the Pink Ladies want to remind our patients to keep up to date on mammograms for breast cancer screening!

It’s Wonderful Wednesday here at Cary Healthcare Associates, and Dr.Hamad is showing his appreciation for our wonderful front desk administrator Lori.

Join our team!

Today we bid a tearful farewell to our wonderful medical assistant Gianna, but we could not be more proud, and thrilled for her as she starts on a new and very exciting journey in medical school at UNC, Chapel Hill. After working at Cary Healthcare Associates under the guidance of Dr. Hamad and all of our wonderful and caring providers, Gianna was inspired to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a doctor. Dr. Hamad and his team wish Gianna much success, and cannot wait to welcome her back home soon for her Family Practice clinical rotation.

Good luck Gianna from all of us at Cary Healthcare Associates.

Yesterday we celebrated and our spotlight was on our wonderful referral coordinator Lorena Byrd, who always goes above and beyond in helping our patients. In her free time Lorena enjoys reading and watching movies with her husband. Together they have two beautiful children, a six year old daughter and a six month old son. We are so thankful to have Lorena on our team!

TEAM MEMBER THURSDAY and we are so proud and excited to acknowledge our in-house phlebotomist for Labcorp, Noel Balbuena. After graduating from Wake Technical College, Noel worked for 10 years as an international volunteer at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in New York. It was there that he met his beautiful wife Amanda, who also works here at Cary Healthcare Associates as a medical assistant. Noel was awarded Labcorp’s Laboratorian of the year in 2021. Dr. Hamad is very proud to have Noel and Amanda on his team.

IT’S TEAM MEMBER THURSDAY,
and today we are very excited to recognize our amazing charge nurse Shannon Mitchell. Shannon has been caring for our patients at Cary Healthcare Associates since 2011. She graduated from nursing school in August 2021, and continues to provide quality care for all of our patients in her newly appointed leadership role as charge nurse.

In her free time Shannon loves to spend time gardening, hiking, cooking and spending time at the beach with her three wonderful children.

TEAM MEMBER THURSDAY
Today we are thrilled to recognize our amazing office manager Tammy Smith, who has been working for Dr. Hamad at Cary Healthcare Associates for 18 years. In her free time Tammy enjoys reading and taking boat trips on the lake with her family. She and her husband Paul have two children, a son married with a beautiful young baby girl, and a daughter who is getting married this coming July. Dr. Hamad and the entire team appreciates everything Tammy does everyday in taking care of the patients, staff and all of the daily operations of the office. Dr. Hamad thinks she has super powers. We think so too!

TEAM MEMBER THURSDAY- Today we are delighted to recognize our wonderful medical assistant Gianna Jones. Gianna graduated from NC State in 2020 with a B.S in Human Biology and a B.A in Arabic Language and Literature. This fall Gianna will begin her studies at UNC School of Medicine, in Chapel Hill. Dr. Hamad and the entire team here at CHA wish Gianna much success and a very bright future. We know that she will do great things!

TEAM MEMBER THURSDAY!
This Thursday we would like to recognize our wonderful PA Lauren Britt. Lauren was born and raised in North Carolina. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2013 with a degree in Clinical Laboratory Science and worked as a medical lab scientist in Orange County and Wake County. She decided to further her medical career and help patients in a more personal way by becoming a Physician Assistant. She graduated with a Masters of Medical Science focused in Physician Assistant studies from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in May 2019.

Lauren is passionate about closing the gaps in healthcare disparities in primary care including prevention of disease, mental health, and diagnosis and management of chronic conditions. Lauren strives to provide comprehensive, high-quality, and compassionate care to every patient.

She enjoys spending her free time with her husband, swimming, caring for her fur-baby Buffy, reading novels, and discovering new places to explore in the Triangle.

Our wonderful medical assistant Presaunica is getting married this Saturday! Please join our office team “bridal party” in wishing her love and happiness!

Happy Nurses Week to all our nurses! We appreciate you!

TEAM MEMBER THURSDAY.
We would like to recognize our wonderful team member Blakely Garrity, PA-C. Blakely completed her undergraduate studies at Appalachian State University with a major in biology and minor in spanish. She went on to earn a Master's degree at North Carolina State University before attending Wingate University for her Master of Physician Assistant studies. Blakely has worked in the field of endocrinology and is passionate about managing chronic conditions and new technologies to help manage conditions such as diabetes.

In her free time, Blakely stays active by running and cycling. She has completed race distances from a mile to a half Ironman. She also likes to visit National Parks throughout the US.

We are very proud to have Blakely Garrity on our team!

The office will be closed today 1/21/22. Stay safe!

Due to current weather conditions , the office will delay opening until 10:00AM tomorrow , 1/17/22. Thank you for your understanding.

We at Cary Healthcare wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season!

Please join us in congratulating Shannon Mitchell on her graduation from nursing school! She has worked really hard to get here and we are so very happy to welcome her to her new full time role here as Nurse in Charge!

Searching for a full time (M-F 7:45-4:45pm) CMA. Candidate must be a team player, reliable and meet all qualifications. Please DM for further details .

Due to the threat of inclement weather The office will be opening at 10AM today. We will be monitoring as the morning progresses and will notify scheduled patients of any changes that may occur.

CHA UPDATE ON COVID-19 TESTING AND TREATMENT:

We are diligently working to provide care and up to date information on COVID-19 for our patients. We would like to update you on how we are testing and managing COVID-19 patients, in addition to answering some frequently asked questions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.

Testing and Management of COVID-19:

We continue to offer drive through COVID-19 appointments for evaluation and determination if testing is necessary. We are currently offering rapid antigen testing for patients with active symptoms. We offer PCR "send out" testing on all patients regardless of duration of symptoms. We are also able to test after a direct exposure, and the recommendation is to test 4-7 days after known exposure. Due to testing supplies we are not able to offer testing to patients for preoperative clearance or prior to travel. We do offer follow up Telehealth appointments after you have tested positive for COVID-19. This is to ensure you recover and have access to healthcare throughout your illness.

Please contact our office to schedule an appointment.

COVID-19 VACCINE UPDATES:

NC is currently in Phase 1a of the COVID-19 vaccine plan. This applies to healthcare workers and residents in long term care facilities. Once this group has been completely vaccinated the state will move into Phase 1B. This may also be dependent on the county and how many vaccines they receive as to how quickly this will occur.

Phase 1B will include anyone over the age of 75, along with other frontline essential workers.
Phase 2 will be ages 65-74 and those over age 16 with high risk health conditions.
Phase 3 will be students.
Phase 4 will be the remainder of the population who wants to be vaccinated.

Please see this link at NC Department of Health and Human Services for more detail:

https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/vaccines

Our office has registered with the COVID-19 vaccine management system but we have not been provided any detail on when we will have access to ordering and administering the vaccine. The state and counties are still deciding whether this will be administered at hospitals, pharmacies, health departments, and/or outpatient clinics. Primary care practices like CHA have not been notified when we can administer or refer elsewhere for the vaccine. Please stay up to date on the website listed above. We will continue to inform you as we know more.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. Until then, please avoid COVID fatigue and diligently practice handwashing, mask wearing, and social distancing.

NC DHHS COVID-19: Vaccines Vaccines Version en español COVID-19 Vaccine Information Initial supplies are prioritized for health care workers fighting COVID-19 and those working and residing in long-term care Tested, safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines will help us get back in control of our lives and back to the people and ...