Dear Colleague:

The Northeast Missouri Rural Health Network continues to experience a flurry of activity.

In the last few months, we have welcomed the Heartland Physicians Corporation (HPC) as our newest member. HPC is comprised of 37 multi-specialty physicians who joined to work to improve the healthcare delivery system in northeast Missouri.

The Network has now received 501(c)3 status as a not-for-profit corporation with the Internal Revenue Service. Additionally, we have recently adopted new vision and mission statements as well as goals. The NMRHN Executive Committee is currently putting a workplan together based on suggestions submitted by board members.

Two of our member hospitals, Putnam County Memorial Hospital and Sullivan County Memorial Hospital, have been approved and are currently operating as Critical Access Hospitals. Also, Pershing Memorial Hospital has recently submitted a Critical Access Hospital application. (Refer back to articles in our August 1999, November 1999, and February 2000 issues for additional information on the Critical Access Hospital designation.) Congratulations to these hospitals!

The NMRHN Board has been meeting bi-monthly in an effort to continually address health care concerns in northeast Missouri and develop a team approach to solving them. Committees have been formed to address the areas of prenatal healthcare, poison control/hazardous waste, as well as community outreach and continuing education for health care providers.

A special thanks to Dr. Robert Jackson, former NMRHN project director and outgoing board president, for his leadership during the past couple of years. Dr. Jackson will remain as an affiliate member of the Network, and we are appreciative of his past and present contributions.

The year 2001 promises to be pivotal in the Network’s evolution. New grant opportunities, such as the Federal Community Access Program that targets the uninsured/underinsured, are on the horizon and could help the Network to address and solve the region’s most urgent health care needs. Regional collaboration, as featured in our Network, has never been more important.

Gaylah Sublette
NMRHN President

Martha Gragg, CEO of Sullivan County Memorial Hospital and NMRHN board member, has been selected as one of fifteen board of directors of the Missouri Foundation for Health. She has been appointed to serve on the selection and grants committees.

The foundation was created by an out-of-court settlement between the state and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri and is the state's largest nonprofit foundation. It will be funded with $12.78 million in cash and the 15 million shares of RightChoice stock held by Blue Cross, valued today at close to $400 million. The new foundation will fund health care needs in the 85 counties and the city of St. Louis served by the former Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri.

May 31, 2001 – Comprehensive Care of the Burn Patient
Speakers - Paul Linneman, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Dixie Reid, PA, and Christopher Lentz, M.D., 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Kirksville Junior High Auditorium. Co-sponsored by Northeast Missouri Area Health Education Center, Northeast Regional Health System, and Kirksville Area Technical Center. Registration fee $15. For more information call 660-785-3785.
June 14, 2001 – Current Concepts in Arthritis Care: Gardening As A Therapeutic Activity
12:00 – 4:30 p.m., Gutensohn Clinic Mehegan Classroom, Kirksville. Registration fee $25. Co-sponsored by Northeast Missouri Area Health Education Center, and Northeast Missouri Regional Arthritis Center. For more information call 660-785-3785.
June 15, 2001 – Advanced Cardiac Life Support
8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Gutensohn Clinic Room 357, Kirksville. Open to Network members. Coordinated by the Northeast Missouri Rural Health Network. For more information call 660-626-2500.
June 29 & 30, 2001 – Pediatric Advanced Life Support
8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Gutensohn Clinic Mehegan Classroom and Room 357, Kirksville. Open to Network members. Coordinated by the Northeast Missouri Rural Health Network. For more information call 660-626-2500.
September 29, 2001 – Women’s Health Care: A Patchwork Quilt
8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Gutensohn Clinic Mehegan Classroom, Kirksville. Staggered registration fees. Co-sponsored by Northeast Missouri Area Health Education Center, and Northeast Regional Health System. For more information call 660-785-3785.

Additional workshops are planned for the fall. Watch our upcoming newsletter for additional information.

Sustaining Members

Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
Gaylah Sublette
Julia McNabb, D.O.
Richard Mercer, D.O.

Northeast Regional Health System
Charles Boughton
Ranee Brayton
Richard Valuck, D.O.

Hospice 2000
Ron McCullough
Ann Blesz

Pershing Health System
Phil Hamilton

Putnam County Memorial Hospital
Ray Magers

Sullivan County Memorial Hospital
Martha Gragg

Linn County Health Department
Dean Gordon

Putnam County Health Department
Nettie Lewis

Clark County Health Department
Janet Nixon

Sullivan County Health Department
Connie Michael

Macon County Health Department
Ida Taylor

Putnam County Ambulance District
Sue Crawford

Adair County Ambulance District
Don Crosby

Knox County Ambulance District
Linda Banks

Sullivan County Ambulance District
Jason Thompson

Schuyler County Health Department
Janice Shaw

Northeast Missouri Area Health Education Center
Chris Stewart

Heartland Physicians Corporation
Michael R. Willman, D.O.

Affiliate Members

Robert Jackson, D.O.

Northeast Missouri Health Council
Brooks Miller

Network Staff
Tania Sharp, Coordinator
Glenna Daniels, Administrative Assistant

Network members have been actively involved in supporting the development of a cooperative grant application from northeastern Missouri to the Federal Community Access Program (CAP) competition.

To date, Network members participated in the grant’s technical assistance workshop in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as in local focus-group discussions on enhancing care for the region’s uninsured/underinsured.

The following proposed intervention objectives were submitted in the grant application:
*Implementation of a regional Management Information System,
*Establishment of a regional network of Community Health Resources Specialists/Case Managers,
*Establishment of a user-friendly safety net system aimed at De-stigmatizing the Enrollment of persons eligible for social service programs,
*Coordination and enhancement of the region’s Health Transportation Services, and
*Expansion of a Pharmaceutical/Medication Assistance Program, and
*Provide comprehensive safety net services to 1,500+ persons annually and reach over 70,000 with essential health promotion and de-stigmatizing messages.

The Sullivan County Memorial Hospital in Milan was represented at a forum organized by Missouri State Representative Sam Berkowitz held November 16, 2000. The forum was conducted at the Scotland County Memorial Hospital in Memphis and was open to hospital, ambulance, county health, and nursing home administrators for the purpose of obtaining a listing of the highest priority needs of health care providers in rural Missouri.

Top priorities expressed were obtaining and retaining personnel such as laboratory and radiology techs, registered nurses, and physicians. Several attending felt local residents should be encouraged to receive training and enter the health care field. Lack of funding to improve technology and replace broken equipment was also expressed. Ambulance personnel stressed the need to give quality pre-hospital care to patients. Each group expressed concern with maintaining qualified staff due to the inability of keeping competitive benefits and salary packages and the continued problem of keeping up with regulatory compliance. Representative Berkowitz shared this information with other state legislators during the National Health Conference.

The Sullivan County Memorial Hospital opened a clinic in Green City in early November 2000. Dr. Thomas Williams and nurse practitioners are staffing the clinic which is open on Mondays and Fridays from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 1 – 5 p.m. Appointments are preferred, however walk-ins are welcome.

The Tri-County Health Clinic, located at the Sullivan County Memorial Hospital, continues to be open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 – 9 p.m. and Sundays from 1-6 p.m. Fifty to seventy patients are seen per month with slightly more than half having some form of health insurance.