The Membership Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
SORH staff from all 10 Region E states descended on Salt Lake City, Utah, for the Region E SORH Partnership Meeting in August. The planning committee was laser focused while building the agenda and made sure to include ample time for the SORH to have group discussions. The six topics covered in the group discussions included: RHC Work, Oral Health, Workforce/Recruitment, Running a SORH with Budget and Political Uncertainty, Opioid Discussion, and Communication and Information Dissemination. These robust discussions brought up many thought-provoking issues, and the SORHs more than helped each other throughout that time.
Region E was also joined by some familiar faces from Region C: John Barnas and Crystal Barter from the Michigan Center for Rural Health. They presented their session, “A SORH is Managing a State-Wide Clinically Integrated Network? It’s True!” Not only was it a much-needed session for the region, but it was also a perfect example of cross-regional partnership.
Next year, Region E will meet in the great state of Oregon. To access the meeting presentations, please click here.
On July 25-26, the Region E SORH Partnership Meeting was held in Bellingham, WA. NOSORH would like to thank the Washington Office of Rural Health for hosting the meeting. Region E was joined by Emily Dilley, Director of Marketing at Columbus Community Hospital in Wisconsin, who presented on Project C.L.E.A.N. (Communities Eliminating the Abuse of Narcotics) – Opioid Abuse Prevention Program. Project C.L.E.A.N. is a partnership between local community leaders (healthcare professionals, law enforcement, school officials and community members) to enhance awareness and understanding of opioid use and abuse. The project is multifaceted and includes Emergency Department collaboration and safeguards, education to high school students and communities, and physician partnerships and best practices.
To access this and all presentations, click here.
Region E will convene in Utah in 2018!
The Region E SORH meeting was held August 16-17 in Medora, North Dakota. Every state in the region was represented with a total of 34 attendees. The Region E Planning Committee put together a great agenda with speakers from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, Office of Regional Operations, RUPRI, Oregon Office of Rural Health, Center for Rural Health and the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis. Mark Barclay presented on the “Top 5 3RNet Resources for State Offices of Rural Health”, including information about their upcoming Recruiting for Retention Academy, which is being offered free of charge to SORHs. The meeting also included a surprise visit from Theodore Roosevelt! All meeting presentations can be found on the NOSORH website. Thank you to the North Dakota Center for Rural Health for hosting!