February 2008 ALERT

ALERT
Ambassador Leadership Education Resources & Training

• Michelle Corbin, Ambassador Program Manager, will be leaving the program to pursue a new and exciting job opportunity outside of HRSA effective February 8, 2008. Michelle has been with the program for the past 7 years and has facilitated the exponential growth of the program during her tenure. She will be greatly missed.
  
  We are pleased to announce the new Ambassador Program Manager, Diane Culkin.  Diane has worked with the NHSC for seven years and has extensive knowledge of the scholar and loan repayor programs.  Yvette Wing, our Association of Schools of Public Health Fellow has provided an invaluable level of support to the program and will continue assisting Diane until the end of her fellowship. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Diane at (301) 594-4141 or dculkin@hrsa.gov  or Yvette at (301) 443-2712/ or ywing@hrsa.gov.
  
  
  
• In addition to staff changes, the Ambassador Program has had a change of leadership and we would like to welcome CDR Jeanean Willis-Marsh, DPM, the new Chief of the State and Community Initiatives Branch (SCIB).  SCIB administers several programs such as the Ambassador, Ready Responders, J-1 Visa Waiver, and the National Advisory Council on the National Health Service Corps.  CDR Willis-Marsh is looking forward to meeting you at the 2008 Ambassadors conference.
  
  
  
• The annual Ambassadors Conference is scheduled for July of 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona.  Additional information will be coming soon.

HRSA’s Bureau of Clinician Recruitment and Service recently launched a new initiative to expand the number of Ambassadors in 2008 by 20%.  Our program has been recognized as being critical to the mission of the NHSC and as a result, we are actively recruiting new partners to assist in our efforts to “reach down” and increase the number of high school and undergraduate students interested in pursuing a career in primary care.   

Our goal is to recruit 250 NEW Campus and Community Ambassadors this year!  With a proven track record, we know that you are our greatest asset in helping us reach this goal.  We are relying on you to spread the word to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to join us in promoting careers in primary care to students and clinicians. 

To help you, help us, we are developing several new tools and materials that will be made available in the near future. Stay tuned for the announcements!

News You Can Use!

NHSC Applications:

The NHSC has been working diligently to establish an online application process for the Loan Repayor and Scholar applications.  We anticipate that the Loan Repayor application will be made available within the next 3 weeks.  We do not have a date for the release for the Scholar application.  We will send an update once a timeframe has been established.

Bureau of Health Professions All Programs Meeting:

HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr) will hold an All Programs Meeting on Monday, February 25, 2008 - Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at the Hilton Washington Hotel in Washington, DC.

This meeting will bring together more than 1,000 BHPr grantees and Federal agencies that address national health professions education and workforce needs. The purpose of the conference is to:

1. Promote collaboration and the exchange of ideas among BHPr grantees from several grant programs, including Nursing Workforce Development, Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry, Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education, Area Health Education Centers, Public Health Training, Preventive Medicine Residency, Graduate Psychology Education, Geriatrics Education, Oral Health Workforce, Health Careers Diversity, Practitioner Data Banks, State Loan Repayment, and State Primary Care Offices. New BHPr Performance Measures will be discussed
2. Provide plenary and breakout sessions regarding the future of health professions.
3. Showcase grantee programs through poster presentations

For more information  and to register visit: https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=156495

HRSA PCO/PCA Day:

HRSA’s Bureaus of Health Professions and Primary Health Care, in partnership with State Primary Care Offices and State/Regional Primary Care Associations will convene a meeting on Thursday, February 28, 2008, at the Hilton Washington Hotel in Washington, DC. This meeting will bring together the State Primary Care Office Directors and the Primary Care Association Executive Directors from the 50 states, Washington, DC, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico to discuss important issues related to the NHSC and other federally funded programs that serve to provide health care to the underserved.

NHSC National Advisory Council Meeting:

The winter meeting for the National Advisory Council (NAC) on the National Health Service Corps will be held on Friday, February 29, 2008 and Saturday, March 1, 2008 at the Hilton Washington, DC, Rockville Executive Meeting Center. The National Advisory Council on the NHSC is a body of 15 clinicians and health care administrators who possess knowledge of underserved communities and health care implementation and improvement. Ambassadors have consistently had a positive presence on the Council.

The purpose of the National Advisory Council is to: 

1. Serve as a forum to identify the priorities for the NHSC and bring forward and anticipate future program issues and concerns through on going communication with program staff, professional organizations, communities and program participants
2. Function as a sounding board for proposed policy changes by utilizing the varying levels of expertise represented on the Council to advise on specific program areas
3. Develop and distribute White Papers and briefs that clearly state issues and/or concerns relating to the NHSC with specific recommendations for necessary policy revisions

The Council is currently recruiting new members.  Members are required to serve a three-year appointment and attend biannual meetings.  If you would like to nominate either yourself please send your CV/resume and biography to Tira Patterson at tpatterson@hrsa.gov by May 1, 2008.

Healthy People 2020 December Meeting Summary:

Overall

The Healthy People 2020 proposed process was presented at both APHA and the National Prevention Summit in November.  Both sessions were well attended and there were questions regarding both data and state/local applicability of the objectives and the potential change in organization from more disease specific to more risk determinant.

The Healthy People State Coordinators meeting was also held at the end of November.  The attendees were asked to work on framework models for HP 2020 – that used both a risk determinant and a life cycle perspective.

Regional Meetings

There will be 6 regional one day meetings to review the proposed Healthy People 2020 development process and seek public input.  The meeting schedule is as follows: Atlanta, March 17; San Francisco, April 1; Fort Worth, April 14; Chicago, April 30; New York City, TBD; Washington DC, TBD.

A regional meeting webpage is also currently being developed which will contain information about the meetings and an opportunity for meeting participants to pre-submit questions/issues they would like to discuss at the regional meetings.

The Regional Meeting subgroup is currently seeking assistance with the following items:

1. Recommendations for State/Local speakers or panel to discuss local/regional efforts to use risk factor/determinants approaches to foster collaboration across programs and to guide program and policy development – optimally these examples would be related to public health priorities.
2. Data bases and/or listserves that could be provided to ODPHP for distribution of information regarding the regional meetings.

For further information please contact Emily DeCoster at edecoster@hrsa.gov.

We would like to welcome all of our new Ambassadors:

Ambassador Adrian Billings is a Physician with Pearce Clinic in Alpine, TX

Ambassador Patricia Brinegar is an Educational Consultant and Facilitator for Stonehill College in Portsmouth, RI

Ambassador Natalie Brown is the CHC Workforce Recruitment Program Director at the Indiana Primary Health Care Organization in Indianapolis, IN

Ambassador Lesly D’Ambola is the Medical Director at St. Luke’s Catholic Medical Services in Camden, NJ

Ambassador Anna Erickson is the Provider Support Coordinator at the Association for Utah Community Health in Salt Lake City, UT

Ambassador Olaf Haerens is a Dentist with Tejas Dental Care in  New Braunfels, TX

Ambassador Joanne Herfel is a Primary Care Consultant at the Wisconsin Primary Care Office in Madison, WI

Ambassador Fatima McCasland is the Chief Executive Officer of the Ajo Community Health Center and the Desert Senita Community Health Center in Ajo, AZ

Ambassador Yvette Mendez is the Executive Director at the Northern Rhode Island Area Health Education Center in Woonsocket, RI

Ambassador Robert Noll is a  Professor at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA

Ambassador Ellen Owens-Summo is the Director of the Greater Valley Area Health Education Center in Apache Junction AZ

Ambassador Patrick L. Peck is an Associate Professor in Counseling at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, AR

Ambassador Kimberly Pelletier is a Health Educator with the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health in Bristol, CT

Ambassador Nealy Stapleton is  a Program Manager with the Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center in Albany, GA