By Kylie Marsh
Kylie.marsh@triangletribune.com
RALEIGH – Advance Community Health is now looking to Amplify healthcare for the communities it serves.
At the company’s annual Impact Night last Thursday, Advance introduced the partnerships that made its rebrand and expansion possible.
Advance serves over 250,000 patients across its 14 locations, and has provided affordable healthcare to Wake and Franklin counties for over 50 years. The company rebranded to Amplify Health last month.
The rebranding is not just in the name, assistant vice president of marketing Samone Dillahunt said.
“Organizations, just like communities, do evolve,” she said. “We’ve expanded services, we’ve embraced innovation, we’ve formed several new partnerships and increased our impact; and we begin asking ourselves one important question: ‘Does our brand fully reflect who we are today and where we’re headed tomorrow?’”
The North Carolina Justice Center reports that North Carolina is 10th in the nation for 10.7% of the population uninsured. Amplify is known for its innovation in expanding access to healthcare, where over 10,000 patients are uninsured. Last year, over 100,000 appointments provided care to more than 30,000 patients, CEO Scot McCray said.
“If you think about escalating costs, if you think about pharmacy costs, if you think about how sometimes healthcare is so hard to navigate, it’s the safety nets,” he said. “The safety net destinations that actually extend an olive branch; wrap services and TLC around families and communities every day to ensure that they can get top-notch care.”
Amplify’s Centering Pregnancy program, as well as mobile healthcare services in partnership with The Women’s Center in Raleigh, were highlighted during the event.
“You in this room will continue to make those stories come to life for another 50 years,” McCray said. “I’m very excited about what tonight represents. It represents the culmination of one chapter as we turn the page on advanced community health and start a brand new chapter as Amplify Health.”
Three years ago, Amplify began providing OB/GYN care and developed a Centering Pregnancy model for prenatal care.
“Families receive much more than medical appointments. They build relationships, receive education, develop confidence, and become part of a supportive community that continues throughout pregnancy and beyond,” Samone Dillahunt said.
“Too many families struggle with transportation, language barriers, behavioral health concerns, and simply the ability to navigate an entirely very complex healthcare system, and far too many mothers experience preventable complications,” said Dr. Lisa Ehrler, director of women’s health.
The Center for Disease Control’s Department of Health Statistics states that in 2023, the mortality rate for Black women was 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 14.5 for white women, 12.4 for Hispanic women and 10.7 for Asian women. Amplify’s Centering Pregnancy program brings together women with similar due dates for their prenatal care.
“It’s much more than group prenatal care and appointments. It’s a community,” Ehrler said. “Mothers receive their medical care, childbirth education, behavioral health support, nutritional guidance, and opportunities to learn from one another, all in one place, and as part of a coordinated care team. Coordinated care. From the very beginning.”
Amplify Board of Trustees Chair Rosa Navarro said board members are also patients. “As patients, as board members, we know firsthand what compassionate, affordable healthcare means; what it means to have a healthy community,” she said.
