July 2017 Newsletter
HCAHPS Boot Camp
Twenty-three Critical Access Hospital (CAH) leaders and quality staff from 8 CAHs gathered on May 2nd at St. Charles Prineville for The HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) Breakthrough Leadership Boot Camp sponsored by ORH and led by Brian Lee, CSP and Founder of Custom Learning Systems. The training provided advanced education for CAH “C-Suite” directors, managers and supervisors to master the leadership skills necessary to achieve sustainable HCAHPS score improvement.
ORH Scholarships This Quarter
National Rural EMS Conference: Fargo, North Dakota
The Oregon Office of Rural Health awarded a scholarship to Rebekah Rand, Ambulance Administrator of Blue Mountain Hospital EMS. Rebekah served as the interim director for the service until she was hired as the permanent director in February of 2017. Rebekah has played a key role in strengthening the service, which was faced with decommissioned ambulances in the fall of 2016.
Rebekah Rand and Field Services Program Coordinator, Rebecca Dobert, pictured at the conference.
Letter: Thankful to have ambulance back
Published on February 7, 2017
Blue Mountain Eagle
To the Editor:
On Thursday night, I spent most of the entire night by myself because my wife was in and out of bed, answering the call of the ambulance pager, which is once again sitting by the bed. She was no sooner back from one call when the pager went off again. That night the Monument ambulance transported three local citizens in distress to meet the John Day ambulance where they were taken to Blue Mountain Hospital for treatment. A month ago, those people would have had to wait over an hour for an ambulance. But now, they only wait 15-30 minutes before someone is on their doorstep to attend to them. I want to personally thank the new Blue Mountain Hospital CEO Derek Daly and the new Ambulance Administrator Rebekah Rand for all they have done to bring ambulance service back to Monument. I appreciate all the people who spoke out; everyone should be thankful to have the ambulance back.
Darrell Howe of Monument
Lean Healthcare Certification: La Grande, Oregon
DeeDee Tanner, Respiratory Care Manager at Grande Ronde Hospital in La Grande completed the Belmont University Lean Healthcare Certification in Nashville, TN. ORH awarded DeeDee a scholarship in November of 2016 to attend the Massey Graduate School of Business Lean Healthcare Certification in May 2017. The program is designed for leaders to better understand the tools and knowledge necessary to drive Lean Healthcare throughout their entire organization.
“This was a very intense training. You discussed Lean over breakfast and lunch as well as 8 hours per day. The hands on experience of trying simple manufacturing tasks and then adjusting and trying again really helped solidify the concepts. The final day we did a walk through with a nurse in the nursing lab and then worked through issues to make her time more efficient when seeing patients. What was great about this project is you had other like-minded people to discuss all of the issues with and many times they could bring up ideas or issues that were not necessarily something you would have thought of. I would highly recommend this training to anyone interested in going who is serious about implementing the Lean concepts in their workforce.”
- DeeDee Tanner, BSRT
Western Region Flex Conference: Waikola, Hawaii
The Oregon Office of Rural Health awarded a scholarship to Jenni Word, Chief Nursing Officer at Wallowa Memoria Hospital, to attend the 15th Annual Western Region Flex Conference on the Big Island of Hawaii. The conference brings together leadership from western U.S. Critical Access Hospitals with a focus on quality reporting and hospital transformation.
If you are interested in future scholarship opportunities, please contact Field Services Program Coordinator Rebecca Dobert at dobert@ohsu.edu, or (503) 494-6627.
Oregon Practice Sites Complete Recruiting for Retention Academy
Twenty-six Oregon practice sites completed the 3RNet Recruiting for Retention Academy, an eight-part learning series focused on recruiting and retaining providers in rural and frontier communities. The learning series brought together national experts to help rural and frontier facilities better understand today’s best practices. Participation was paid for by the Oregon Office of Rural Health.
“It was a great opportunity,” says Stacy Reed, Program Manager - Recruitment & Retention at the Oregon Office of Rural Health. “The Academy really laid out what resources are available and what types of strategies practice sites should be considering. Recruiting for rural areas will always be a challenge, but I think this was a great way to help sites develop a clear process and better understand their resources.”
Participants received over 50 cumulative education hours along with access to additional education materials and a listserv. If you are interested in participating in future Recruiting for Retention Academies, contact the ORH Workforce Team at ruralworkforce@ohsu.edu.
Five Rural EMS Agencies Awarded HERO Training Grants
The HERO (Helping EMS in Rural Oregon) grant program, a program of the Oregon Office of Rural Health, awards grants to rural volunteer EMS personnel and agencies to help defray the ongoing costs incurred by volunteers for their training.
There are three HERO grant cycles throughout the year. The Oregon Office of Rural Health awarded grants to five rural Oregon agencies during the most recent cycle:
- Western Lane Ambulance District received funds to help with the cost of EMT-Basic training for local and mutual aid agency volunteers
- Harbor Rural Protection District received funds to send two of their volunteers for EMT training
- Myrtle Point Ambulance received funds to conduct a local EMR class for 12 local and neighboring volunteers
- Falls City Fire & EMS received funds to conduct a local EMR class for up to 10 local and neighboring volunteers
- Chiloquin Fire & Rescue received funds to help with the cost of hosting a multi-agency mass casualty incident training
You can help the Oregon Office of Rural Health raise funds for the HERO grant program. Follow this link to contribute, and help us ensure that emergency medical care is available throughout rural Oregon.
First Dental Health Aid Therapist Begins Practice in Oregon
Naomi Petrie, the first Dental Health Aid Therapist (DHAT) to practice in Oregon, has completed her two years of study and graduated on June 2, 2017 in Anchorage, Alaska with her Associates Degree in Applied Science from Iligsavik College. She will return to Coos Bay, Oregon, next month to serve her community as the first DHAT to practice in Oregon
Naomi will begin her preceptorship with Sarah Rodgers, DMD and upon completion she will practice at CTCLUSI Dental Clinic. Dental Health Aide Therapists work under the general supervision of a dentist and are part of a team of providers. They are able to provide preventive oral health services, including nutrition and tobacco cessation counseling, as well as basic dental services including hygiene, restoring cavities and simple extractions.
For the first year of training, a student studying to become a DHAT completes an educational program in Anchorage, Alaska. The second year, the student continues their education in Bethel, Alaska, with clinical experiences. Upon completion of this two-year program, the graduated student enters a preceptorship with the supervising dentist and completes a mandatory 400 hours, as well as a number of specified procedures. Upon approval of the supervising dentist, the preceptorship is completed. The student is then able to work with patients without the direct supervision of the dentist as long as the dentist is available to consult as needed. This allows the DHAT to bring oral health care to those who may not otherwise have access.
The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua & Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI), which Naomi comes from, consists of three Tribes: the Hanis and Miluk Coos, The Lower Umpqua, and the Siuslaw Tribes. The CTCLUSI ancestral lands extend up and down the length of the Oregon coast. CTCLUSI’s Tribal Government Office is located in Coos Bay, Oregon. They also extend services to Tribal members through their Outreach Offices located in Florence, Oregon, and Springfield, Oregon. (Article information submitted by Jamie Meyers, DHAT Coordinator for Coos, Lower Umpqua & Siuslaw Indians.)
Provider Spotlight
Primary Health Care Loan Forgiveness (PCLF) Awardee physician assistant Joshua grew up in Florida and joined the Air Force right out of high school, which placed him in the position of medic. He was fortunate to travel as a team with physician assistants to remote villages abroad while primarily stationed out of Anchorage, Alaska. His time in uniform introduced him to the Pacific Northwest, medicine, and rural communities, which developed into a dream to combine all three. The dream came true in 2016 when he graduated from Pacific University’s Physician Assistant Program and moved to Redmond, where he is able to practice rural medicine and take full advantage of the terrain. In 2016 Joshua began working at Madras Medical Group, in Madras Oregon. He took some time to talk about his PCLF award and practicing in a rural community.
How has receiving your loan forgiveness award impacted you?
The loan forgiveness scholarship has been an added bonus as I was already targeting rural medicine. Rural communities at times are not able to offer the salary of a specialty clinic within a metropolitan area so this offsets the compensation gap.
What factors did you take into account when you chose your practice site?
I weighed the decision on multiple levels. Ranking from the top: mentorship, qualify of life, access to recreation, financial reimbursement.
What do you like most about your community?
The community I work in is the kind that I had heard of in school. My supervising physician is also the county Medical Examiner, on-call OB provider and has delivered generations of families, some of whom are now his children's classmates.
What do you enjoy about practicing in a rural area?
Practicing in this rural area gives me opportunities that metropolitan family practice clinics may not offer; our clinic performs our own radiographs, casting, circumcisions, obstetrics care in addition to pediatrics to geriatrics medicine. Aside from the ability to broaden my scope, the genuine relationships that develop truly touch my heartstrings.
What is one piece of advice would you give to someone entering a medical program?
I think I would recommend they stay open to options, try not to decide the specialty and area of practice you intend to pursue within the orientation period of their didactic year.
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone considering practicing in a rural community?
Rural medicine is in great need of providers, but it is in more need of providers who plan to stay in these communities and not depart after loan repayment obligation has been completed. I recommend that providers considering a rural community pursue an area they could picture their kids growing up in.
Who is someone in your life who influenced your medical career or path? How did they influence you?
This is a tough question because all of the preceptors and mentors I have had along the way have helped to chisel the path I am on today. The person who comes to mind immediately at this point in my career is Jon Van Horn, who is a level one trauma center PA as well as PA in the US Army. Jon is well known to the Oregon PA community for his role in education and leadership. He is the kind of guy where providers will agree to work at his hospital for a chance to work alongside him while learning from him.
PCLF was designed to meet workforce needs in rural Oregon for primary care providers. PCLF awardees have a portion of their education paid for, in advance, in exchange for a service obligation at an approved rural Oregon practice site once they graduate. For more information on PCLF, visit our website.
Photo courtesy of the Madras Pioneer
2017 Rural and Frontier Health Facility Listening Tour
The ORH 2017 Rural and Frontier Listening Tour is now underway! Meetings are scheduled in all parts of the state, with stakeholder participants from divisions across Oregon Health Authority, Coordinated Care Organization leadership, The Oregon Center for Nursing, Oregon Medical and Nursing Boards, the Office of the Governor, among others. More than 30 rural and frontier hospitals and clinics are scheduled to hold meetings and lead discussion of their self-identified challenges with their statewide partners.
Previous tour reports are available on the ORH website.
You can follow the tour on ORH’s Instagram account.
For questions about the listening tour, contact Field Services Program Coordinator Rebecca Dobert at dobert@ohsu.edu, or (971) 271-0481.
Grant Funding Opportunities
The Rural Health Information Hub offers a list of grant opportunities that are searchable by type, sponsor, topic and state. Check out this great resource!
OHSU Knight Cancer Institute Community Partnership Program Grants
The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute Community Partnership Program is accepting funding applications for community led projects that address local cancer-related needs in Oregon. The program offers three tiers of funding in an effort to help organizations start at the idea phase of a project and then build and test an effective solution to a cancer-related problem within their community. Since October 2014, the Community Partnership Program has helped communities conduct cancer-related projects targeting a diverse range of cancer types and demographics. The program has funded community projects serving all 36 Oregon counties.
- Visit the Community Partnership Program website and review the Request for Proposals for more details.
- Intent to apply forms are due at noon on Aug. 1.
- Full proposals are due at noon on Sept. 5.
Join the Rural Health Coordinating Council — ORH’s Advisory Body
The Oregon Office of Rural Health is advised by a statutorily mandated body, the Rural Health Coordinating Council (RHCC). The RHCC is composed of 18 members total: 13 organizational representatives and 5 consumer members.
The RHCC currently has several vacancies. Please consider joining the RHCC or passing this invitation along to someone else who may be interested.
Perform One-time Exams with Guaranteed Payment
The Oregon workers’ compensation system needs more rural providers to perform one-time exams to help injured workers get back to work. When you perform any of these exams, you are guaranteed payment, the process is straight forward, and the system benefits from your professional opinion. Although the insurer pays for these exams, the insurer is not involved in coordinating the exams. If you have any issues, contact the Workers’ Compensation Division for assistance at 503-947-7606.
Save the Date
Check out the ORH Events Calendar for the latest updates!
Rural Training Tracks Conference
September 23, 2017
9.00am – 1.30pm (lunch included)
Oregon Medical Association
11740 SW 68th Parkway, Portland, OR 97223
Hosted by the Graduate Medical Education Consortium and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians
No fee to attend, but space is limited. Please RSVP to Kerry Gonzales at kg@oafp.org.
1st Annual Quality Workshop
October 18, 2017
Sunriver Resort, Sunriver, OR
ORH and HealthInsight of Oregon will be offering a Quality Workshop at the 34th Annual Rural Health Conference in Sunriver, Oregon. The workshop features topics to assist Quality Officers and staff navigate the complexities of quality reporting in a Critical Access Hospital.
Rural Health Clinic (RHC) Workshop
October 18, 2017
Sunriver Resort, Sunriver, OR
Don’t miss this year’s annual RHC Workshop! The RHC Workshop is offered by ORH as a Pre-Conference event at the 34th Annual Oregon Rural Health Conference. The workshop provides education and updates to RHC Administrators, Managers, Providers and Staff.
34th Oregon Rural Health Conference
October 18-20, 2017
Sunriver Resort, Sunriver Oregon
The annual Oregon Rural Health Conference is the largest gathering in Oregon dedicated to sharing information and showcasing innovative approaches to health and the delivery of health care in rural Oregon. The conference brings together providers, administrators, consumers, policy makers and others to exchange ideas and share expertise. Conference registration will be open mid August 2017.
Detailed information about the 34th Oregon Rural Health Conference, including speakers at the both workshops, and registration, will be live on the ORH website in mid-August.