Free training? Free tools? Free technical assistance? Yes, that is correct! The Rural Telementoring Training Center (RTTC) accomplishes this through telementoring technology. What is telementoring? You need to listen to our conversation with Trisha Melhado and Suyen Schneegans with RTTC to learn more.
“We provide free training, tools, and technical assistance to support the implementation and evaluation of current and new telementoring programs for rural healthcare workers.’
~Trisha Melhado
Trisha Melhado is the Evaluation Lead for the national Rural Telementoring Training Center. Trisha has experience in various research roles where she provides research guidance to faculty and residents on all aspects of the research process with an emphasis on study methodology and statistical analysis. She has successfully collaborated with faculty from multiple institutions to implement multi-year grant-funded projects and has worked on Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, Department of Defense, and Health Resources & Services Administration funded grants as well as provided analytical and statistical expertise to projects. She has presented research at local and national conferences in addition to co-authoring several publications. At the RTTC, she is the evaluation team lead.
Suyen Schneegans is the Training & Technical Assistance Staff Lead for the national Rural Telementoring Training Center. She has a MA from the University of Texas at San Antonio in Bicultural Bilingual Studies with a concentration in Cultural Studies and is a graduate of the University of the Incarnate Word with a BA in Spanish, Literature, and Language and a minor in Psychology. Suyen has worked on various social science projects pertaining to substance use disorders, community health, screening, brief intervention, referral to treatment (SBIRT). She is also a qualitative researcher and has presented at numerous local and national conferences and co-authored several publications. At the RTTC she is the training and technical assistance team lead.
If you would like to know more, visit www.ruraltelementoring.org.
Nurse staffing shortages is a hot topic, not just in rural America, but everywhere, making nurse education ever more important. Educating nurses and preparing them to take care of the members of their community requires educational leadership. Hear how one nurse educator is making a difference in rural Tennessee as we talk about educational challenges and generational differences. We are having that discussion with Dr. Christie Manasco, Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, College of Nursing.
“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.’
~Dr. Christie Manasco
Dr. Christie Manasco is a registered nurse with broad experience and expertise in nursing, education, leadership, and administration. Dr. Manasco is a full-time assistant professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where she teaches in the undergraduate nursing program and is engaged in developing initiatives that promote equity and reduce health disparities for rural and underserved populations. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Manasco served as Assistant Dean of Nursing, Lambuth, where she was responsible for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of an undergraduate nursing program. In this role, she helped develop, grow, and lead the first public baccalaureate nursing program in Jackson, TN.
Additionally, she served as manager for a leading global corporation in the delivery of human patient simulation, learning applications, and training. She began her career in academics at Union University where she served as Assistant Professor/Director of Undergraduate Education for the Center of Excellence in Healthcare. Recently, Dr. Manasco is part of a UTHSC College of Nursing grant team that was awarded a $1.5 million dollar HRSA grant to increase the supply, distribution, and retention of certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners who can provide timely, trauma-informed care for all sexual assault survivors in West Tennessee.
Nurse practitioners can truly make a difference in rural healthcare. When working in rural, you are often on your own, and you never know what healthcare challenges you may face from one day to the next. That is why this conversation today is so important because today we are talking with two nurse leaders who are doing something about helping nurse practitioners grow in confidence to be prepared for whatever walks through their doors.
"We want to make sure they are well prepared for anything that comes into the office."
~Dr. Anne Hirsch
Dr. Anne Hirsch, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at UW School of Nursing, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing and is the UW Premera RNHI Project Director.
A native of Anacortes, WA, Dr. Hirsch is passionate about the health of rural and underserved communities and is dedicated to promoting equitable access to primary care in rural counties of Washington state. Clinically, Dr. Hirsch provides care to homeless families and teens as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She has led statewide innovative programs to improve education access through online programs, co-chaired a design team to formulate a master plan for nursing education in Washington, co-chaired a sub-committee of the Washington Nursing Action Coalition to enact these recommendations, and was recently appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to serve on the coordinating committee to establish core performance measures for healthcare (the only educator or nurse practitioner appointed to this key policy-setting committee).
Through academic leadership roles, she has helped establish a Ph.D. program at Washington State University (WSU) and two Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs at WSU and Seattle University. Dr. Hirsch has successfully brought the WSU and Seattle University Colleges of Nursing and the UW School of Nursing through Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accreditation reviews, and currently co-chairs the CCNE Accreditation Review Committee. Dr. Hirsch is a Fellow in the Academy of Nurse Practitioners and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.
Dr. Heather Novak, Medical Education Program Director, is a Nurse Practitioner at Valley View Health Center and in charge of the Nurse Practitioner Fellowship Program, New Provider onboarding and orientation, and provides family practice services for all ages.
Heather is originally from Virginia Beach, VA. She then traveled the world as a military spouse and saw the global impacts of different types of healthcare systems and the lack of access to care.
As a WA rural healthcare provider in Lewis, Pacific and Thurston counties, Heather sees the difficulty her patients have in accessing specialty care due to distance and cost. Throughout her career in the medical field, she has worked to precept new employees and successfully integrate team philosophies into practice to improve overall outcomes. Heather is a member of AANP, ARNPs United of Washington, NW-Cape, and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
Do you remember what the food was like in your school cafeteria? If was anything like mine, you were willing to do whatever was needed to eat something else or somewhere else. Angela Stoltzenburg, Director of Community Health at Lincoln Memorial Hospital, has done something about that. Through a collaborative effort, school cafeterias now create healthy meals from scratch! Not only are students learning about healthy eating habits, but they also see what healthy eating looks like.
We talk to the kids about ‘go’ food and how they need to eat more ‘gos’ than ‘slows’ and more ‘slows’ than ‘whoas.’
~Angela Stoltzenburg
Angela Stoltzenburg has been serving as the Director of Community Health at Lincoln Memorial Hospital (LMH) since 2012 in Lincoln, Illinois. Lincoln is located in central Illinois. LMH serves Logan County and eastern Mason County with a total population of approximately 32,000. In her current role, she oversees a variety of strategies to improve health outside the walls of the critical access hospital.
Stoltzenburg earned a Bachelors in Health Administration and a Master’s of Business Administration from Eastern Illinois University. Prior to her work at LMH she was the CEO of Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois serving six rural Illinois counties, including Logan, to address the needs of low-income and seniors. She uses her experience of the social determinants of health to guide the work of LMH as they work to improve lives and build stronger communities through better health.