Many patients living in rural America encounter unique boundaries to receiving the critical healthcare they need, particularly when faced with a rare disorder or disease. March is Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month, and Dr. Len Valentino is working to educate and advocate for upwards of 10,000 rural Americans living with a rare blood or bleeding disorder.
“Understanding rural health is critical to serving the population of the US.”
~Dr. Len Valentino
As CEO of the National Hemophilia Foundation, Dr. Valentino brings more than 35 years of clinical and research experience related to inheritable blood disorders to the organization. Prior to his most recent work with Spark Therapeutics, a biotech startup, he founded and led the Hemophilia and Thrombophilia Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where he successfully balanced a $10 million budget to support research grants, research, and clinical teams–keeping the patient and their families as his core focus. He earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Creighton University and Creighton University School of Medicine.
He then completed the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Pediatric Medicine Residency before completing a fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Valentino remains an active member of multiple professional organizations, including The American Society of Hematology; International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis; Medical Affairs Professional Society; and The Hemophilia and Thrombosis Research Society
To learn more, check out www.hemophelia.org
The needs in a rural community can sometimes be overwhelming, from transportation needs to medical care, dental care, and more. Sabrina Blue’s heart has always been rural because she is a country girl at heart. Her mission is to look at the deficit of the resources in rural Tennessee and figure out how to deliver holistic healthcare to the residents of rural West Tennessee.
“Our mission is to build stronger communities and improve health outcomes for West Tennessee families.’
~Sabrina Blue
Sabrina Blue is the Founder and CEO of Helping Hands of Middle and West Tennessee (HHT). The mission of HHT is to build stronger communities and help improve health outcomes for West Tennessee families. HHT provides dental, medical, and medical insurance assistance to families earning no more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Blue is an Associate Pastor with the Historic First Baptist Church in Jackson, Tennessee.
She had earned over 30 years of corporate management, including sales and marketing strategic planning, for top Fortune 500 companies. Blue had developed and launched businesses such as the first 24-hour childcare center located in Charleston, South Carolina. Blue serves as a board member in nonprofit organizations within her community in the West Tennessee area. Blue currently serves her community in the following areas:
Blue enjoys providing coaching and mentoring services by helping professionals and youths to develop skills in management, sales, marketing, and staffing coaching. She has studied at Trident Technical College, College of Charleston, and the University of Colorado.
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.
When you think about rural healthcare, you may not think about Scotland, but Scotland has some very rural areas that deal with similar issues we deal with in rural America. Hear about what they are doing in rural Scotland to deliver health and wellbeing to their residents, by listening to our conversation with Dr. Emma Watson, 2021-22 U.K. Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice Deputy Medical Director at NHS Highland.
“NHS Highland delivers integrated health and social care, so it is not just about illness.”
~Dr. Emma Watson
Dr. Emma Watson MSc, FRCPath, FRCPEd is a 2020-21 UK Harkness Fellow in Healthcare Policy and Practice. A Consultant Medical Microbiologist by background and a senior clinical systems leader in Scotland, she is an expert in quality improvement and in medical education and workforce planning.
Emma is Deputy Medical Director in NHS Highland which is, geographically, one of the largest and most sparsely populated combined health and social care systems in the UK. She is also a senior medical adviser in the Scottish Government. In both roles, her focus is on developing innovative approaches to ensuring equitable access to high-quality health care services with a sustainable healthcare workforce, particularly in remote and rural areas.
Emma has led a number of major change programs including the development of Scotland’s first graduate entry medical school. Emma previously held a post in the Scottish Government as Clinical Lead for the Scottish Patient Safety Program during which time she ensured quality improvement methodology translated from the development of health policy and strategy through to implementation across the entirety of the Scottish healthcare system. Scotland was the first country in the world to implement a patient safety program on a whole system basis at the national level. As Director of Medical Education in NHS Highland, she focused on the delivery of high-quality medical education as a tool to increase recruitment and attract young doctors to the region as well as ensuring there is now an established programme to encourage young people from the area to go to medical school. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the clinical response in her region and ensured there was a whole system approach to manage the impact of the virus.
Ted Rogalski considers himself to be in the relationship business. Maximizing outcomes and organizational effectiveness in rural communities with limited resources require a culture of connection, a culture that fosters strong relationships. Hear Ted’s thoughts on this and much more during our conversation with Ted Rogalski, Administrator of Genesis Medical Center in Aledo, IL.
“We must create a culture and work environment that is a draw for caregivers by developing relationships outside the organization.”
~Ted Rogalski
Edward J. (Ted) Rogalski is the Administrator for Genesis Medical Center, Aledo, a 22-bed critical access hospital located in Aledo, Illinois. Rogalski completed his Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration at St. Ambrose University and received his Master's degree in Health Care Administration from the University of Iowa. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.
During his 24 years with Genesis Health System, Rogalski has held a number of leadership positions. Over the past ten years, he has directed operations in Aledo, IL where he joined the organization under a management agreement with Mercer County Hospital (now Genesis Medical Center, Aledo). During his tenure, Rogalski led a $1.6 million dollar turn-around effort and successfully guided the organization through affiliation and ultimately acquisition.
On February 1, 2013, Mercer County Hospital, Medical Associates Clinic (a six provider RHC) and Mercer County Nursing Home (92 bed LTC) joined Genesis Health System. The Hospital immediately embarked on an extensive $12 million renovation plan. Prior to joining Genesis, Rogalski worked for Mercy Hospital, Iowa City, IA; Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis, MN; and started his healthcare career at St. Luke’s Hospital, Davenport, IA.
Rogalski currently serves as Chair-Elect for the Illinois Hospital Association Board of Trustees and Treasurer for the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network. He has also served as the Chair for the Small and Rural Hospital Committee of the Illinois Hospital Association and has been an active community volunteer and serves or has served on the boards of the American Hospital Association - Regional Policy Board, Vera French Mental Health Center, St. Ambrose University PA Program, Mercer County Better Together, Mercer County YMCA, St. Paul the Apostle School, Assumption High School Century Club, and Friendship Manor. Rogalski and his wife, Lisa, have five adult married children and one grandson.
Burnett Medical Center set some pretty high goals for wellness visits, complete physicals, annual wellness visits, and welcome-to-Medicare visits. They also initiated a tier management program to follow up with patients to make sure they are doing well. We’re talking about this and more with Tamra White, Burnett Medical Center’s Medical Practice Administrator and Compliance Officer.
“As much as we like to think we’re pretty good at what we do, there’s always room for improvement.”
~Tamra White
Tamra White joined Burnett Medical Center in 2001. Burnett Medical Center is a 17-bed Critical Access Hospital, Rural Health Clinic, and 50-bed nursing home in Tamra’s hometown of Grantsburg, Wisconsin. Throughout that time, Tamra has held various positions including medical transcriptionist, medical staff coordinator, HIM Director, and Compliance Officer. During those years she assisted with two EMR implementations, revenue cycle improvement, and planning for a $15 million building project.
Since 2017 Tamra has served as the Medical Practice Administrator and Compliance Officer in addition to implementing an Emergency Preparedness program. In December 2018 Tamra was asked to co-lead the organization when the hospital’s CEO had an unexpected three-month medical leave.
Tamra is currently finishing her bachelor’s degree in healthcare management through Regent University. After that, she plans to obtain a master’s degree in healthcare administration. Tamra also holds a degree in health information management from Rasmussen College.
Tamra’s mission is to serve her community, friends, and family in humility and love while ensuring they have close-to-home access to high-quality healthcare. Her professional interests involve strategic planning, medical staff relations, compliance, and regulatory issues, and goal cycles and action plans. Tamra’s personal interests include spending time with her husband and two daughters, reading, church activities, and Bible study small groups.
Rural Medical Centers has clinics located in mountains where there is no internet or cell service, and in the middle of a tomato field. As you might imagine, they have a few challenges providing healthcare services. I invite you to listen to a very interesting conversation with Jessica Zimmerman and Alexis Andino who are both with Rural Medical Centers in East Tennessee.
“We have a clinic in the mountains where there is no cell or internet service, so the way we access and treat people there is different.”
~Jessica Zimmerman
Jessica Zimmerman is a native of Lima, OH, and is married to Javier. They have one son, Ethan. Jessica is currently transitioning from her role as Corporate Compliance Manager with Rural Medical Services, Inc. to a position working with Auxiliary Services offered through her organization which is a FQHC located in East Tennessee. Jessica is bilingual and uses that ability to not only help her fulfill duties at work but also as a volunteer English teacher for adults one night a week.
Alexis Andino is originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Central America. He is married to Edith, and they have 3 married young adult children, who give them the joy of enjoying 6 grandchildren with one more on the way. Alexis is a bilingual Agricultural Engineer, with a diploma in Church-based community Facilitation, who worked for several years as a church-based community project facilitator for Christian Service Organizations in Honduras, Central America.
Alexis works as a Community Outreach and Transportation worker for Rural Medical Services, Inc.
Alice Hyde Medical Center and Champlain Valley Physicians Hospitals (CVPH) are both in upstate New York, and believe it or not, the closest major metropolitan area is in Montreal, Canada. Collaboration has been an important aspect of delivering quality care to the residents of that area. In our conversation with Michelle LeBeau, CEO of both facilities, Michelle shares her perspective on collaboration and more.
“Collaboration has been really important to understand what each county, each region needs, and how best to deliver care.”
~Michelle LeBeau
With nearly thirty years in health care as a registered nurse and Human Resources executive, today, Michelle leads a dynamic group of health care professionals in Malone and Plattsburgh, New York. She understands the impact individuals bring to their organization when they are engaged and feel valued. She emphasizes the creative inspiration of individual thought processes and strives to ensure all voices are heard.
She believes in the power of a smile, the strength of positivity, and the idea that opportunity is made. Michelle embraces the power of change, thrives on ambiguity, and inspires others with her energy and enthusiasm. Her daily mission is to foster a culture that empowers those around her - ensuring that Alice Hyde Medical Center and CVPH offer a vibrant, engaging experience for its people and patients.
Michelle is an avid learner, holding degrees in nursing, business, and human resources. She believes that learning takes many forms and that each day presents the possibility for growth.
She is most proud of her five children and marvels at watching them grow into incredible people.
The mission of Doing Unto Others (DUO) is to reach people with the love of Christ by practically meeting physical and spiritual needs through providing health resources, service industries, and educational opportunities with the hope of equipping individuals and communities for living an abundant life. We’re talking about this and more with Samuel LaFave, Director of Mobile Missions at Life Church in Cookeville, TN.
“By the time they leave they really do feel like a new person.”
~Samuel LaFave
DUO Wellness is ready to encourage personal health and promote healthy lifestyles by offering wellness screenings and consultations with health professionals, all free of charge! Our team of physicians and health professionals is passionate about putting patients in control of their health by educating and building awareness.
DUO Hair is ready to serve your community by offering haircuts for all ages at no charge! Our Hair Bus is a salon on wheels and will make you feel right at home!
DUO Food is ready to bring meals to your community! Our trailer is fitted with a grill and refrigeration to make for a successful event. The trailer can be used to serve pre-made food or food can be prepared on the trailer!
DUO Outreach is ready to address the crowd with onboard audio and lighting. The stage truck is great for being the central hub of an event!
To learn more about this program, visit their website: DUO Mission (duomobilemission.com)
High-Reliability Organizations are organizations that achieve safety, quality, and efficiency goals. They succeed in avoiding catastrophes in an environment where normal accidents can be expected due to risk factors and complexity. This week’s guest on Rural Health Leadership Radio, Dr. Lesley Ogden, has set a goal for the two hospitals she oversees to become highly reliable organizations.
“You want to assure that every time someone is cared for at your facility, you have the same excellent outcomes every time.”
~Lesley Ogden, M.D.
Dr. Lesley Ogden serves as chief executive officer for the two Samaritan critical access hospitals in Lincoln County, located on the central Oregon coast. Before taking this top position, she served as chief operations officer at Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital in Lincoln City and as interim CEO at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport, and also worked clinically as an emergency and urgent care physician.
Dr. Ogden is residency trained and board-certified in emergency medicine and has more than 10 years of clinical and leadership experience. She received her medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and completed her emergency medicine residency at Oregon Health and Science University. In addition, Dr. Ogden received a master’s degree in business administration from The Citadel and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Troy State University.
A native of Florida, Dr. Ogden has made the rural Oregon coastal community her home since 2006. She is an active Rotarian in Lincoln City and served as club president in 2016-2017. She is also on the board of directors of the Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County and the Oregon Coast Community College Foundation.
Under Dr. Ogden’s leadership, both hospitals were entirely transformed recently, with a new hospital building in Lincoln City and new and renovated buildings, and hospital campus in Newport. Both hospitals are part of Samaritan Health Services, a not-for-profit network of hospitals, clinics, and health services caring for more than 250,000 residents in the mid-Willamette Valley and central Oregon Coast.
COVID vaccination mandates are making an impact in multiple ways. When Lewis County Health System embraced the State of New York’s vaccination mandate, they ended up having resignations, causing them to temporarily suspend obstetrics service. The national news picked up the story, and the next thing you know, Jerry Cayer, CEO of Lewis County Health System, is talking with Lester Holt on the NBC Nightly News.
“One of the things that is important in rural health is that you have to be very transparent with your community.”
~Jerry Cayer
Jerry Cayer was born and raised in Maine, served in the United States Marine Corps, graduated from the University of Maine Farmington with a BS in Community Health Education and a minor in Education, and graduated from Boston University with a Master of Public Health Degree. After a number of years as a high school and college coach, he transitioned to officiating high school basketball and baseball games.
Jerry spent several years as the executive lead in the Health and Human Services Department for the City of Portland, Maine. From there he spent a decade as the Executive Vice President at Franklin Community Health Network and Franklin Memorial Hospital in western Maine. Over three years ago Jerry joined Lewis County Health System and Lewis County General Hospital in Lowville, New York (90 minutes northeast from Syracuse), as its Chief Executive Officer.
After working in various parts of the country, Erica Johnson-Lockett fulfilled her promise to the elders of her community and returned home. That “homegrown kid” is now the Chief Nursing Officer of Bolivar General Hospital in Bolivar, TN.
“I asked the team what they saw as some of the biggest challenges versus asking the leaders of the facility.”
~Erica Johnson-Lockett
Erica Johnson-Lockett began her nursing career in 2007 on a telemetry ward. Later, she transitioned to the ICU. During her career, she has been a Corrections Infirmary Nurse, Adjunct Clinical Nursing Instructor, Home Health Clinical Supervisor, Patient Safety-Risk Management Specialist, Patient Safety Manager & Acting Risk Manager. Currently, she is the CNO for the hospital in her home county.
Erica enjoys community service activities, mentoring adults and high school seniors. Lifelong learning is a passion and she has the ability to teach herself essential functions of career roles. Erica always shares what she has learned with others in addition to learning from them.
Collaboration, communication, listening, and flexibility are the key skills that make Erica an influential, innovative, and dynamic leader. She will never forget where she originated from or the struggles she has faced.
On this week’s episode of Rural Health Leadership Radio, we’re talking to a nurse trying to make a difference in the Appalachian region. Robyn Seamon has earned advanced degrees, studied, and conducted research to help prepare her to serve Appalachian residents.
“The Appalachian region has the highest number of every chronic disease we look at.”
~Robyn Seamon
Robyn is a Certified Transcultural Nurse who is passionate about seeing the health of people radically transformed in the Appalachian Region. Facilitating improvement in the high rates of health disparities in the Appalachian Region is her heartfelt desire. As a Registered Nurse for over 35 years, she has had many diverse experiences, including hospital nursing, home health and hospice, a startup clinic at a homeless shelter, and various volunteer experiences.
Robyn holds a Master of Arts degree in Appalachian Studies. She is the owner of Appalachian Healthcare Training & Consulting and regularly provides Appalachian-focused professional development workshops and consultation services.
On this week’s episode of Rural Health Leadership Radio, we’re talking about the importance of community engagement. Jessica Fisher, CEO of Tri Valley Health System, shares what she and her leadership team have accomplished through community engagement, collaboration and the implementation of a few different change initiatives.
“The community is really what drives the additional services we need to offer.”
~Jessica Fisher
Jessica has a Master of Healthcare Administration from Bellevue University. She earned a Bachelor and Associates Degree from Fort Hays State University. Jessica also has a certification in Leadership, Human Resource Management and is a certified Phlebotomist through the American Society of Clinical Pathology. She comes to Tri Valley with a wealth of health care experience. Most recently she was the Director of Operations at Valley Hope Association, headquartered in her hometown of Norton, Kansas.
Valley Hope is an organization that provides residential and outpatient addiction treatment in seven states and 16 service locations. Prior to that Jessica was the Human Resources and Education Director at Cheyenne County Hospital in St. Francis, Kansas and was the Inpatient Clinical Services Manager at Hays Medical Center, in Hays, Kansas, while providing services to Pawnee Community Hospital in Larned, Kansas and St. Rose Medical Pavilion in Great Bend, Kansas. Jessica strongly believes in effective healthcare systems providing quality patient care with positive patient outcomes along with delivering cost-effective and affordable healthcare services.
This week’s episode of Rural Health Leadership Radio is a special episode to honor all our country’s veterans in honor of Veteran’s Day. Most VA hospitals are in metropolitan areas, making it difficult for veterans living in rural America to receive care there. With around half of our veterans living in rural America, that is just one of the challenges they face, access to care. This week we’re talking about that and more with the CEO of Coal County General Hospital, Trent Bourland. Trent served in the United States Air Force for 10 years and knows first-hand the challenges all rural residents face with it comes to access to care, particularly the challenges veterans are dealing with.
“Be patient with veterans as much as you can. A lot of them are frustrated because they don’t understand how the system works.”
~Trent Bourland
Trent Bourland is the CEO of Coal County Healthcare Authority located in Coalgate, Ok., which operates a 20-bed critical access hospital, three rural health clinics, and a 75-bed long-term care facility. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force and has a master's degree in business from Southern Nazarene University.
If you’re not changing, not trying to look into the future, you’re not moving forward. When Josh Conlee became the CEO of Lawrence Memorial Hospital, he and his team looked at a variety of things: how they were doing, where the market was going, what they did well, and what they didn’t do very well. I hope you’ll listen in to our conversation.
“We are a proud community and we wanted to show people that we were moving forward in many ways.”
~Josh Conlee
Josh Conlee earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Master of Business Administration from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. Additionally, he earned a Master of Health Services Administration from the University of Arkansas for Medical Science in Little Rock, Arkansas. Josh is currently the President of Lawrence Healthcare in Walnut Ridge, AR where his duties include the oversight of Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Lawrence Hall Health and Rehabilitation.
He previously held positions as the Administrative Director at UAMS North Central, Manager of Strategic Implementation, and Administrative Fellow at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Health Center. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). He was the recipient of the 2019 ACHE Early Career Healthcare Executive Regent’s Award. Josh is married to his wife, Kailey, and they have two daughters, Stella and Avery.
The Rural Health Program is currently being launched in Tennessee, and it has a couple of different components. The first component is focused on the community by looking at ways to promote pharmacy practice in rural areas. The second component is focused on pharmacy students; exposing them to rural healthcare and engaging them in the delivery of quality healthcare in a rural setting. We are having that conversation with Tyler Melton, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Education & Rural Health, at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, College of Pharmacy.
“There are rural pharmacies anywhere you go in America and I think they’re underutilized.”
~Tyler Melton
Tyler Melton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), College of Pharmacy. He has nine years of pharmacy practice experience including inpatient and outpatient pharmacy in rural environments. Tyler joined UTHSC in September of 2020, after completing a postdoctoral research fellowship in Community Pharmacy Practice and Prescription Drug Abuse and earning his Master of Public Health from East Tennessee State University. His areas of research expertise include community pharmacy practice, rural health, health disparities, and prescription drug abuse.
Childhood trauma has an impact that lasts a lifetime. Trauma-focused treatment and trauma-informed care is critical, but oftentimes lacking in rural America. Southern Illinois is fortunate to be the home of the Stress and Trauma Treatment Center, where Dr. Matt Buckman and his team provide these services in multiple communities.
“This is the most important work that any of us can do.”
~Dr. Matt Buckman
Dr. Matt Buckman is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Executive Director of the Stress & Trauma Treatment Center. He also serves in various part-time leadership and consultative roles. Dr. Buckman is the PI of the Southern Illinois Resiliency Project at the Center. He is the Co-PI of the IL HEALS (Helping Everyone Access Linked Systems) Demonstration Site Project and Early Childhood System of Care Project under Egyptian Health Department, the Bullying Prevention/Trauma Responsive Schools initiative and the Trauma Based Behavioral Health Fellowship at the Center for Rural Health & Social Services Development within SIU’s School of Medicine, and the Southern Illinois Violence Prevention Project at the Illinois Association of Juvenile Justice Councils.
Throughout his roles, Dr. Buckman provides supervision, consultation, and training as well as direct services to children, teens, young adults, and families to help improve a variety of emotional and behavioral health issues. He has worked in various schools, medical, and clinical settings with a specialization in childhood trauma and certifications in Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Managing & Adapting Practices, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, and Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics. He has extensive experience working with victims of abuse and their families as they recover and heal from significant adversities and considers his work in this area to be his calling in life.
Click here to learn more about the Stress & Trauma Treatment Center.
We may not like to talk about it, but sexual assaults happen in rural America, and something needs to be done. In Tennessee, they are doing something! By way of a grant, an initiative is underway to provide funding for education, training, certification, and retention of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE). SANE programs are designed to train nurses to address survivors' needs and provide trauma-informed care.
The 21 counties of West Tennessee have only five certified SANE nurses, four of whom practice in Shelby County. But the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation received nearly 1,600 reports of sexual assault in West Tennessee in 2019, indicating a significant shortage of nurses certified to meet the need for this care.
“The grant was awarded to increase the supply of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners in West Tennessee.”
~Linda Beasley, DNP, APRN, NP-C, RN
Lisa Beasley joined the UTHSC CON faculty in September 2020. Prior to joining UT, Lisa was previously at the University of Memphis Loewenberg College of Nursing for 10 years, serving as a Clinical Associate Professor and the Director of Clinical Education for the last 6 years of her time there. Lisa’s practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner has been in hospice and palliative care for the last 9 years serving patients in rural and underserved communities. Prior to becoming a nurse, Lisa enjoyed an 18-year career in the radio industry.
Click here to learn more about this program.
A little over 5 years ago, Hanover Hospital was on the brink of closing its doors. Turning things around was going to be a difficult and challenging journey but knowing how much the hospital meant to the community, a dedicated team of rural health workers turned things around.
“We were hanging on by a thread, just trying to figure out how to make payroll and keep the doors open.”
~Brittni Oehmke, CEO
Brittni is the Administrator at Hanover Hospital, located in Hanover, KS, where she has been for 5 years. She is also a Medical Laboratory Scientist and the current Lab Manager. Brittni has three beautiful children: Kaylee, Dalton and Cole. Her family loves animals, being outdoors and playing sports. Brittni also coaches high school girls’ basketball and is a Kentucky basketball fanatic.
Access to care in rural America is a recurring theme, particularly when it comes to cancer care. Transportation is one of the top challenges rural cancer patients must overcome to receive the treatment they need. But there are people trying to do something about that. One of those persons is Dr. Whitney Zahnd, and that’s one of the things we’re talking about in this week’s episode of Rural Health Leadership Radio.
“The best way to reduce cancer disparities and improve cancer rates is to prevent cancer or to find it earlier.”
~Whitney Zahnd, Ph.D.
Whitney Zahnd, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. Her research employs health services research, social epidemiological, and spatial methods to address rural cancer disparities across the continuum and to evaluate access to health care services. Dr. Zahnd is a 2021 National Rural Health Association Rural Health Fellow and a board member with the Iowa Rural Health Association.
She is a full member of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center and a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN). Before joining the University of Iowa faculty, Dr. Zahnd completed post-doctoral training and served as research faculty at the Rural & Minority Health Research Center at the University of South Carolina. Prior to earning her doctorate in community health from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2018, she worked for eleven years as a master’s trained researcher at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine supporting rural health and cancer disparities research.
Click here to find out more about the Cancer Prevention & Control Research Network (CPCRN).
Would you like to become a more effective leader if it only took you 5 minutes a day? If that sounds like a winning idea to you, you need to listen to our conversation with Jo Anne Preston, author of Lead the Way in 5 Minutes a Day: Sparking High Performance in Yourself and Your Team.
“Healthcare workers have really been gutted because there has been so much stress, so much pressure.”
~Jo Anne Preston
Jo Anne Preston is the Workforce and Organizational Development Sr. Mgr. at the Rural WI Health Cooperative, where she brings over four decades of her healthcare leadership experience to designing and delivering leadership and employee education for rural healthcare throughout WI and the U.S. She has an M.S. in Educational Psychology/Community Counseling from Eastern Illinois University and is the author of Lead the Way in Five Minutes a Day: Sparking High Performance in Yourself and Your Team. She also writes a monthly leadership blog. Click here to order your copy of Lead the Way in Five Minutes a Day: Sparking High Performance in Yourself and Your Team.