This week we have a special episode on Rural Health Leadership Radio. Rural Health Leadership Radio recorded the CDC call titled “Update for Rural Partners, Stakeholders, and Communities on the 2019 Coronavirus Disease Response.”
“We’re in the midst of a global pandemic of a disease, COVID-19, caused by a newly recognized virus.”
-Dr. Jay Butler
Deputy Director for Infectious Disease, CDC
The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the world as we know it. I hope you and your family, your hospital, clinic, and community, are all doing as well as possible considering the new normal we now are living in.
This week on Rural Health Leadership Radio we’re talking about movement as medicine. We’re having that conversation with Dr. Anthony Fleg, Director of Running Medicine.
“Movement is something we as leaders, as health professionals, need to remember is one of our simplest outlets that life gives us.”
~Anthony Fleg
Dr. Fleg is a family physician who thinks of his work of healing as “occasionally done with a stethoscope, more often done in communities…done with youth and elders, done through art, language, culture, and love, and through listening more than through talking.” Through NHI, Dr. Fleg created the Running Medicine (www.runningmedicine.org) program in 2016, a unique approach to mind, body, and spiritual wellness through walking and running.
“Leadership is more about empowering people around you to see the best in themselves and to see their own ability to lead, to heal, and do for themselves.”
~Anthony Fleg
Dr. Fleg is also a co-founder of the Native Health Initiative (www.lovingservice.us), a partnership to address health inequities through loving service. He is also a faculty member at the University of New Mexico in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and in the College of Population Health. Dr. Fleg considers himself a love activist, grounded in a deep belief that love can serve as a vehicle toward equity, justice and social transformation. For more information about Dr. Fleg’s work, see the links below!
This week on Rural Health Leadership Radio, we’re talking about rural health centers and their workforces. We’re having that conversation with Darcy Shargo, CEO of Maine Primary Care Association (MPCA).
“I think we’re in a time in the evolution of healthcare delivery and certainly in the rural context that we can’t really stand still anymore and that we’ve got to move.”
~Darcy Shargo
Darcy grew up in rural northern Minnesota in a small farming community. Her personal experiences drove her to work that invests in understanding and alleviating some of the social risk factors that are barriers to better health. Darcy feels that rural areas have the opportunity to test change and commandeer their future.
“Having a focus on healthcare particularly through a rural lens is important because we have the opportunity to scale up changes and try new things.”
~Darcy Shargo
Darcy is the CEO of MPCA, a membership organization for the state’s federally qualified health centers (FQHC). These delivery sites exist across both rural and urban centers in Maine and constitute the state’s largest primary care network. The community health centers serve people from all walks of life, regardless of their ability to pay, acting as a true safety net.
This week on Rural Health Leadership Radio, we’re talking about rural medical education. We’re having that conversation with Dr. Richard Terry, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM).
“The problem in rural areas is simply access to care. There are not enough doctors choosing to practice in rural areas.”
~Dr. Richard Terry
Dr. Terry graduated from New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1988. He completed his residency at the University of Rochester in Family Medicine in 1991, the first osteopathic physician ever admitted to the program. Dr. Terry also has a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Dr. Terry currently serves as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the LECOM and as Chief Academic Officer at Lake Erie Consortium for Osteopathic Medicine Training (LECOMT).
“What excites me the most is the ability to train medical students with an orientation towards rural family medicine, rural primary care, and rural specialty care from the get-go.”
~Dr. Richard Terry
Dr. Terry has over two decades of experience in both graduate and undergraduate medical education. He has been instrumental in developing a regional campus model for LECOM as well as developing numerous graduate medical education programs in multiple specialties and undergraduate opportunities for osteopathic students. Previously, he served as the Assistant Dean of Regional Clinical Education at LECOM where he built numerous rural clinical rotation sites and graduate medical opportunities in primary care.
This week on Rural Health Leadership Radio we’re talking about holistic care in rural health clinics. We’re having that conversation with Brenda Jacobs, CEO of Daughters of Charity Services in Arkansas.
“The engagement with patients is important to us. The engagement with community is important to us and that’s our link to survival, I do believe.”
~ Brenda Jacobs
Brenda Jacobs was born and raised in Arkansas and has always been concerned with healthcare. Her academic career always led her back to nursing, and she became a doctorally-prepared nurse practitioner. Brenda is currently working in a clinical practice, as well as being the CEO.
“We’re committed to our community. We’re committed to taking a holistic approach to our patients, and we’re concerned about every bit of them.”
~ Brenda Jacobs
Daughters of Charity, where Brenda is CEO, was started by a group of nuns many years ago in Gould, Arkansas. Not only do they provide medical and dental services, but they also offer services based on the community’s social determinants of health and needs. The organization’s mission is to provide holistic care through their certified rural health clinics, to serve their community.