As 2023 comes to a close, Co-Hosts Bill Auxier, PhD, and Sydney Grant, MHA are reflecting on this exciting year with the ever-growing community at Rural Health Leadership Radio. Join us on this episode where Bill and Sydney share some of their favorite moments from 2023, ranging from insightful podcast interviews to the growth of the NRHA Certification Programs.
Throughout our conversations this year, we've heard inspiring stories, innovative strategies, and compelling research from both seasoned and new rural health leaders. Bill and Sydney also discuss some exciting things coming in 2024, including individual and team coaching, the Rural Health Management and Leadership Academy, and, of course, many more engaging conversations on Rural Health Leadership Radio.
“We’ve met some amazing people this year and allowed them to share their stories”
-Sydney Grant
We extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been part of our mission this year—to enhance the world by involving rural health leaders in conversations, learning, and research. Here's to continuing this journey in 2024, happy holidays!
Bill Auxier, Ph.D. is President & CEO of Auxier Group and Program Director of NRHA’s Rural Hospital Certification Programs. Dr. Auxier is an expert in rural health leadership development. Dr. Auxier has worked with rural health leaders across the country to improve their organizations through more effective leadership, cultural transformation, and strategic plan development. He is the creator and co-host of the Rural Health Leadership Radio podcast and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus.
Sydney Grant, M.H.A. is COO of Auxier Group and Director of Programming for the NRHA Rural Hospital Certification Programs. Sydney started her journey in rural healthcare as an intern for the Rural Health Leadership Radio podcast, where she found her passion for rural healthcare, leadership development, and creative problem-solving. She co-hosts the Rural Health Leadership Radio podcast with Dr. Bill Auxier. She is also the Communications Director and Board Member for the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Western Florida Chapter.
During this holiday season, it’s wonderful to hear stories about strong leadership based on trust and love, and it’s also wonderful to hear stories of inspiration. Stories of miracles. That’s exactly what this special holiday episode is about. Travis Udall is our guest, and he shares his story about his experiences as the CEO of a critical access hospital in rural Arizona.
Travis delves into the significance of servant leadership and shares a moving story of how his hospital staff united to support a patient. Caring for this patient made a lasting imprint on the culture of the hospital and staff. Travis’s story serves as a reminder of the shared humanity we can all celebrate this holiday season.
“Make your leadership personable. Unify people, love people.”
-Travis Udall
Travis Udall BA, MA-ED Leadership, is the father of four and happily married for 35 years. He and his wife have 9 beautiful grandkids. He has served as a community leader as a teacher, principal, superintendent, and CEO of White Mountain Regional Medical Center in rural Arizona. His leadership experience has spanned 31 years. He and his wife love the outdoors and doing road trips to remote parts of the country.
Recruiting and retaining employees is a top priority for most rural hospitals, and important to sustain the future of rural healthcare. Human Resource leaders across the U.S. are employing creative strategies to boost employee engagement. In this week's RHLR episode, Jenna Janu, HR Director at Glacial Ridge Health System in Glenwood, Minnesota, sheds light on her initiatives to address these issues.
On this week’s episode of RHLR, Jenna discusses her journey to rural healthcare. She also discusses the success of a mentorship program for new employees that Jenna created at Glacier Ridge. She highlights how this program has made a difference for employee engagement across the hospital.
“Mentorship is not just a one-time experience, but a continued source of learning and guidance.”
-Jenna Janu
Jenna Janu is a 2019 graduate of the University of North Dakota. After graduating from UND, she went on to earn a master’s degree in healthcare administration from the University of Mary, a private university near Bismarck, North Dakota, in 2020. She has been at Glacial Ridge Health System for three years in her current role and is a current participant in NRHA’s Rural Hospital HR Certification Program.
Data-backed decision-making is crucial in healthcare, but it can often be challenging, especially for rural hospitals with limited resources. However, from this week's conversation on Rural Health Leadership Radio, we learned that using, analyzing, and understanding community health data is more than achievable for rural hospitals.
Join us this week as we engage in a conversation with Liz Craker, Health Systems Support Coordinator for the Office of Primary Care and Rural Health within the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, and John Wadsworth, Co-Founder of REDiHealth. We discuss how leveraging data to understand patient populations can help increase access to care and manage care gaps in rural areas. Liz and John discuss the importance of their collaboration with each other and the rural hospitals they serve. We also delve into the exciting aspects of rural health, including fast-paced innovation, creativity, and how they are assisting rural hospitals in using data to support these efforts.
“The cadence and amount of innovation in rural areas is staggering to when people understand and trust their data.”
-John Wadsworth
Liz Craker serves as the Health Systems Support Coordinator for the Office of Primary Care and Rural Health at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. She earned her BA in Journalism from Franklin College and her MBA in Healthcare Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University. She has over 30 years of leadership, project management, non-profit management, grant writing, public relations, patient advocacy, and health equity experience. She previously worked in a Federally Qualified Health Center advocating for insurance enrollment and health literacy before coming to the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.
John Wadsworth is a co-founder at REDiHealth where he helps healthcare institutions to turn data into actionable assets. He is skilled at designing and implementing analytic strategies resulting in operational, clinical, and financial improvements. His passion for the healthcare industry stems from helping communities leverage data to improve community health with the desired result of strengthening the overall quality of life. John earned his Bachelor of Science in Human Genetics from The University of Utah and his Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics from the University of Utah School of Medicine.