JIREH PROVIDERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the San Diego Black Nurses Association
- Staff Vice President at Anthem
- Strategy & Program Development Director Anthem, Inc
Jaleisha is a Staff Vice President at Anthem, responsible for relationship management, client retention, and growth for the company's healthcare fraud, waste, and waste solution. Preceding her current role, Jaleisha was the Chief of Staff for Anthem's Service Experience division, where her team was charged with crafting strategies and leading initiatives to achieve associate engagement, operation excellence, and consumer satisfaction. During a period of organizational transformation, Jaleisha was part of a team that managed a portfolio of initiatives valued at $1B in operating gain from ideation through business case development and execution planning. Jaleisha also designed and implemented an initiative to maximize performance through increasing associates' connection to the organization's values.
Presently, Jaleisha is a member of the San Diego Black Nurses Association (SDBNA) and a co- chair of their COVID-19 Taskforce where she and other members of the Taskforce have taken on the charge to secure vaccines to administer at events in the most diverse areas of San Diego.
Jaleisha is a San Diego native and grew up in the Webster community. As a young person, she was involved in a number of community service and civic engagement programs, including serving on the Youth Advisory Boards for both the 4 th District Councilman and the Mayor of San Diego. Jaleisha now lives in the city of Chula Vista.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Executive Director
- Founder & Executive Director, JIREH Providers Inc.
Samantha Williams, Co-Founder & Executive Director of JIREH Providers. She is a Family Nurse Practitioner with over 20+ years of nursing & public health experience. In 2020, during the height of the pandemic she transitioned from out-patient direct care delivery to investing 100% of her time providing direct access to care from within the community, health advocacy and education, health. Achieving equity in healthcare is the goal, uplifting the community through wraparound services is the mission, & the pursuit of generational healing in the Black community is the driving force for her passion.
Gleaning from the expertise of serving as a Regional Nurse Manager over 3 large sites at a Federally Qualified Health Center in San Diego County, she Co-Founded JIREH Providers, a nonprofit mobile community health clinic in 2021. JIREH, which is the Hebraic term for "God is my provider", also stands for Joint Initiatives for Racial Equity in Health.
Through collective impact with community partners, JIREH leadership has provided direct access to preventative care services to over 50,000 San Diego County residents since its inception and has now shifted their focus from all things Covid - during the pandemic, to broader issues of health inequities impacting the community. Utilizing the 3-4-50 rule, which refers to the three behaviors that contribute to four chronic diseases and results in 50% or more of the deaths within the Southeast San Diego region, health initiatives are aimed at bridging the gap in those areas. Along with close ties to the community & several professional societies, she serves on a number of boards & committees throughout San Diego County in an effort to ensure diversity & inclusion in medical decision-making.
She credits the success of her work to God's grace & covering, the support of her Husband, Detlef Williams and children, the leadership of JIREH's board, Dr. Robert Gillespie, Dr. Suzanne Afflalo, Jaleisha Smith Jacobs, & Detlef Williams, & the amazing support & work ethic of JIREH's dedicated team members.
Job Titles:
- Family Physician
- Medical Director for the Alliance Health Clinic
- Physician, Director of Community Engagement
Dr. Suzanne Afflalo is a Family Physician who worked at Kaiser Permanente as a partner of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) for 23 years and retired in 2015. She received her medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington DC and completed her Family Medicine Residency at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Dr. Afflalo served as Chief of the Family Medicine Department for 6 years; held the SCPMG Professional Staff President position for 3 years and taught numerous medical students and residents as an Associate Faculty of UCSD School of Medicine since 1994. She also served on numerous committees during her 23-year career at Kaiser Permanente.
Dr. Afflalo currently serves as the Medical Director for the Alliance Health Clinic, which provides healthcare for the refugee population and other minority communities. She also serves on many boards, including the County of San Diego's Health Services Advisory Board (Vice-chair), the UCSD Chancellor's Community Advisory Board, SDSU Communities Fighting COVID Advisory Board, SDSU COVID Care team (co-chair), San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative-Healthcare Domain (co-chair), the COVID-19 Equity Task Force, Scripps Hub Academic Research Core Advisory Board and CFAR-Centers for Aids Research Advisory Board.