Ochiltree General Hospital is a critical access 25-bed hospital that does a little bit of everything. Ochiltree takes care of med-surg patients, surgical patients, provide OB services, ER services, and other outpatient services. They also have an assisted living center as part of their hospital district. The county has a population of about 9,000 people. The closest tertiary care facility is about a two-hour drive. The hospital is about 7 miles from the Oklahoma border and about 45 miles from the border with Kansas.
“We deliver about 130 babies every year.”
~Kelly Judice
Kelly Judice is a Registered Nurse at a Critical Access Hospital in the Texas Panhandle. She has been with Ochiltree General Hospital for 20 years, starting as an LPN, continuing her education to become an RN. Kelly worked as a floor nurse for 14 years before she took a management position as a trauma coordinator. Two years ago, she became the Chief Nursing Officer.
Kelly has a passion to help others and loves taking care of people. She has always taken care of family and friends, sitting with her grandparents, doing whatever needed to be done. Kelly has always known that she wanted to do something that helped others.
National Prostate Health Month (NPHM), also known as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, is observed every September in North America by health experts, health advocates, and individuals concerned with men's prostate health and prostate cancer. In recognition of National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, we’re having a conversation with Bob Parker, a semi-retired architect and practicing artist who was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer 16 years ago.
“Many men do not like to talk about health.”
~Bob Parker
Bob Parker is a semi-retired architect and a practicing artist who has practiced for nearly 6 decades and lived in the rural town of Taos, New Mexico for the past 23 years. He is active in cultural affairs and has served on a number of boards (museums and arts organizations) and is an active member of ZERO, The End of Prostate Cancer.
He serves as MENtor through ZERO for a number of newly diagnosed men with prostate cancer and has also served as a panel member of the Prostate Cancer Research Panel for Congressionally funded research through the Federal Government. He remains active in his community, hikes in the nearby mountains of Taos, and has a large community of friends and colleagues. His prostate cancer story began in 2004 when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and he has had numerous treatment protocols.
To learn more about Zero – The End of Prostate Cancer and their MENtoring program visit www.zerocancer.org.
National Prostate Health Month (NPHM), also known as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, is observed every September in North America by health experts, health advocates, and individuals concerned with men's prostate health and prostate cancer. In recognition of National Prostrate Cancer Awareness Month, we’re having a conversation with Jamie Bearse, CEO & President, of Zero-The End of Prostate Cancer, the leading national nonprofit with the mission to end prostate cancer. ZERO advances research, improves the lives of men and families, and inspires action.
“Prostate cancer actually kills more than 30,000 guys every year. This year, the projection is 33,000.”
~Jamie Bearse
Jamie Bearse has spent almost two decades in the fight against prostate cancer. At ZERO – The End of Prostate Cancer, the nation’s leading nonprofit in the fight against a disease that impacts 1 in 9 men, he started the ZERO Prostate Cancer Run/Walk and endurance team program in 2008. Then, in 2013, he founded ZERO’s co-pay support program. During his tenure at ZERO, the organization has raised over $100M for the cause, recruited celebrity spokesmen including Rudy Giuliani and Ken Griffey, Sr. to educate men and their families, and won six national public relations awards for raising awareness.
To learn more about Zero – The End of Prostate Cancer visit www.zerocancer.org.
Portia Brown is the Vice President of Page Memorial Hospital of Valley Health and a passionate rural health leader. We’re having a conversation with Portia today, who participated in a meeting in the West Wind of the White House a few weeks ago with members of the current administration. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Portia to meet in the Roosevelt Room of the White House to have a conversation with administration leaders talking about rural health.
“I accepted the White House invite at around 12:30 pm on Monday and found myself in the West Wing of the White House on Tuesday at 1:00 pm.”
~Portia Brown
Portia Brown is the Vice President at Valley Health Page Memorial Hospital located in Luray, Virginia. She has 37 years of healthcare experience to include 32 years in leadership positions working in large and small hospitals, a 1000 bed Veterans Administration hospital, academic facility, and Martin Marietta contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy. She provides administrative oversight to hospital and clinic operations at Page Memorial Hospital as well as oversight for the Southern Region Valley Health hospitals including Shenandoah Memorial and Warren Memorial Hospitals’ quality, performance improvement, safety, risk management, patient experience, regulatory compliance, and infection prevention programs.
Portia has a passion for patient safety, risk reduction, performance improvement, patient experience and providing an environment where staff and physicians have a great place to work and patients to receive high quality compassionate care. Portia received undergraduate degrees in laboratory technology and medical technology from Auburn University and a Master of Science in Health Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia. Portia is a certified professional in healthcare quality (CPHQ), patient safety (CPPS), and healthcare risk management (CPHRM) as well as Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). Currently, Portia serves as acting president of the Board of Directors for the Virginia Rural Healthcare Association and is a National Rural Health Association Fellow.
This week on Rural Health Leadership Radio we are talking the top priorities of a new rural hospital CEO in the Northwest part of the country in the state of Washington. We are having that conversation with Heidi Anderson, CEO, Forks Community Hospital in Forks, WA.
“I love taking care of my community.”
~Heidi Anderson
Heidi Anderson was born and raised in the community, has been married for 30 years, and has one grown son. She started her career in healthcare at FCH in 1991 as a NAC, then obtained her LPN in 1993, until 2003 when she obtained her RN. She has worked in many areas before deciding to go into Nursing Administration in 2006.
She obtained her BSN from WSU in 2011 and is currently obtaining her MBA with an emphasis in Rural Healthcare from The College of St. Scholastica. Heidi is the CEO of Forks Community Hospital and serves a population of 10k, which includes the surrounding small communities.