pet project

One of my fun non-healthcare-related public relations gigs is doing PR for the If Kings Can Dream project:

When Norwegian toddler Neill C. Olson emigrated with his family to tiny Aneta, N.D. in 1922, no one ever could have dreamed up the events that transpired over his life. Now, 87 years later, his fascinating story of family hardships, the strength of small town support, and a remarkable musical legacy is being captured for a book, CD and musical, to be formally kicked off at Aneta’s Turkey Barbeque, to be held June 20, 2009.

Produced by North Dakota-based Out of Nowhere Productions, the “If Kings Can Dream" project tells Olson’s story and highlights the great contributions made by Norwegian Americans to keep Norse culture alive in the American Midwest. Spearheaded by Olson’s daughter, Pam Morben of Woodbury, Minn., the plans includea future documentary and grand performance for the King of Norway.

“The name of the book, If Kings Can Dream, comes from the theme song of Olson’s 1968 musical of the same name. “It's a song about a king that dreams of a better life for his people, a concept that we all can relate to,” said Morben.

Olson's high school music teacher and mentor in Aneta was Merton Utgaard, who went on to create the International Music Camp. Olson attended Mayville State College and taught music in Litchville, N.D., where he wrote 18 musicals for Litchville High School.

The historic biography, to be produced in both English and Norwegian, will include a narrated CD with Olson’s original songs, performed by his former student, widely-accomplished National Philharmonic Artistic Choral Director Stan Engebretson.

Proceeds from the project are slated in part to support educational opportunities and artistic endeavors.

The fun part, at least for me, is that Neill Olson was my great-uncle. I remember seeing one of his musicals as a very young kid. It's been a pretty incredible family project from the starting block.

is social networking putting the squeeze on professional orgs?

The question which lodged itself in my brain yesterday morning and has been stuck on repeat ever since is this: will social media render traditional professional organizations, ala the Public Relations Society of America, or the American Hospital Association, useless?

I had been thinking about renewing my membership to PRSA, along with the North Dakota Professional Communicators, and decided against both. I get most of my professional development from following a handful of expert bloggers and tweeters via Twitter and my blogger blogfeed. I've found it to be very useful, very "now", and best of all, very free. What's not to love?

So....are professional organizations hopping on the digimedia bandwagon to stay current, or are they going to become fossils of a time gone by? Both, most likely. North Dakota Professional Communiators? Already a fossil. PRSA? There's still hope.

I'm curious to see who will win the "pull". Will professional orgs migrate over to live online in social media containers, or will they incorporate social media within their pre-existing frameworks?

Time will tell. Interesting to think about.

just getting caught up

All this social media business can get rather exhausting. We've got a "snow day", which, for my southern friends, means we're in the midst of a nasty blizzard, so I am playing catch-up on my blog, facebook, linkedin and twitter accounts.

I don't think I like this layout quite as much. Your thoughts?

deep thoughts

“According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy." -Jerry Seinfeld

I'm teaching a class this semester. As if life wasn't busy enough, right? I thought it would be beneficial--I could brush up on my instructing skills, which have been rusting away for the past seven years. Second, I could experience life inside a private, Catholic university; as a doctoral scholar examining higher education administration, this was a great opportunity. Finally, I would have the experience of instructing non-traditional students in a non-traditional way. The program is accelerated, meaning I'd only have to teach six Monday nights in a row. No prob.

What did I teach, you might be asking? The dreaded "introduction to public speaking". Most people would rather stick a hot fork in their eye than speak in public, so it's especially challenging to get them engaged, excited and confident enough to come back to class week after week.

My class of eight students was older than average; all were married and most had children, ranging from toddlers to teens. These folks were pursuing their bachelor's degrees in things like management or business, while working jobs I think they all wanted to be promoted out of.

It surprised me to learn just how scared most of them were about public speaking. Some experienced physical symptoms like shaky hands, breathlessness, gripping the podium and sweating, while others found the challenges to be more mental, such as overcoming self-defeating thoughts, or clearing through the clutter to make a point. From an outside perspective, they seemed like your average group of adults, hardly daunted by a thing such as talking to a mass of humans.

Together we worked through the ums and the uhs, talked about how to construct a persuasive argument, why it's important to put clear transitions (aka roadsigns) in a presentation, and what makes audiences like and dislike speakers. After six weeks, most people's skills have improved minutely but their confidence has soared dramatically. These things take time and practice; I'm not a miracle worker after all. I'm hoping they'll go out with a good set of fundamentals to build upon in coming years.

Will I do it again? Probably. I already have my lesson plans, power point slides and class activities in the hopper, so it would be even easier next time. There's something satisfying about helping people address and overcome their fears.

And for the record, I dislike public speaking too.

an embarrassing admission, and my most recent item of obsession

Any Gossip Girl fans out there? I'm a closet fan.
Way too old to be watching that monkeybusiness,yet there I am, parked in front of the tube, week after week. After this week's episode, I decided I need this handbag. Nevermind that it's a $1500 Dior. I NEED it. Perhaps in red, like the one Blair carried on the first day of school?
Sigh. Someday.

blogging is dead?

Or so claims Paul Boutin in this month's issue of Wired magazine.

Boutin, incidentally a blogger himself, claims:

Writing a weblog today isn't the bright idea it was four years ago. The
blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever
thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge. Cut-rate journalists and
underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur
wordsmiths. It's almost impossible to get noticed, except by hecklers. And why
bother? The time it takes to craft sharp, witty blog prose is better spent
expressing yourself on Flickr, Facebook, or Twitter.

So I don't feel that bad about all but abandoning my blog, as it seems to be a trend. I am pretty in tune with FB and write up a storm at work (see previous three entries for some of my latest stories). Guess I'll just continue my haphazard attempt :)

FWIW, Wired is pretty much my favorite magazine to read--total geekfest for geeks. You should check it out.

Improving the Quality of Hospital Care in North Dakota

Over the past few years, a couple of major studies have shown, and the Institute of Medicine has emphasized, that the quality of health care in America is not even close to the level that we should expect from the world's most expensive health care system. Problems with quality are pervasive throughout both outpatient and inpatient settings and may be responsible for thousands of deaths each year.

Small rural hospitals are no exception in the continual reach toward a better, safer system, but they are at times forgotten both in terms of their contribution to health care and funding needed in order to maintain access to care for the country’s 59 million rural residents. Small rural facilities are faced with many significant challenges, the most pressing today related to finance and workforce issues. Despite these challenges, North Dakota’s small rural hospitals are committed to providing quality care and have worked together to develop something innovative, not to mention smart. Seeing strength in numbers, they banded together to form a single network committed to sharing the effort to improve quality throughout the state.

The new Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Quality Improvement Network (QIN) is a long and official way of saying the hospitals partnered together for a stronger voice. Supported by the North Dakota Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) Program and the North Dakota Small Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP), the Network is administered through the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

North Dakota’s 34 small rural hospitals have been working toward the network’s development over the past year, under direction from an executive committee. A full-time coordinator, Jody Ward, Minot, N.D., acts as a clearinghouse for information, regulations and requirements for these hospitals, effectively saving the individual facilities a notable amount of time. She provides technical assistance throughout the state and serves as a liaison to stakeholders.

“The network is a valuable platform to make new connections with each other and maintain continuity among rural hospitals in North Dakota,” said Ward.

Representatives on the network are usually risk managers, quality experts and nurses. The goal of the group is not to discuss specific cases but larger themes and issues. “We want to use best practices around the country to compare to internal data gathered by our facilities, and then exceed national standards,” Ward said.

The hospitals are using the new network to ensure they are providing the highest quality of care for rural residents while leveraging limited resources across communities. Hospitals have access to a variety of state and federal experts in a number of fields, as well as education and training for staff. New employees will be paired with mentors to help with the acclimation process. The network acts as a collective voice for small hospitals throughout the state.

What’s driving the quality movement?
According to David Pate, M.D., CEO of St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Institute for Healthcare Improvement have increased both patient and hospital awareness of the importance of ensuring quality. St. Luke’s is considered a leader in promoting clinical excellence.

“When IOM tried to quantify the number of patients that die each year in hospitals due to the consequences of their care, I think that really hit home,” said Pate. “The field had to face up to the fact that care is not as safe as it could be and that our outcomes are not as good as they could be. The public and policymakers want to know why we spend so much money on health care and don’t have the quality outcomes that other countries have. What we pay and what we receive in return are driving forces.”

Closer to home, an advisory committee drives the quality movement for the network. The committee includes representatives from the Center for Rural Health, North Dakota Healthcare Review, Inc., North Dakota Hospital Association, and North Dakota Department of Health, along with larger hospitals who work collaboratively with small hospitals in their region.

“The new network will bridge knowledge and expertise across health systems,” said Marlene Miller, director of the Flex and SHIP programs at the Center for Rural Health at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences. “We are leveraging each other as resources to strengthen health care in North Dakota.”

Im*pact:(NOUN): the force of impression of one thing on another, a significant or major effect

It’s sometimes difficult to quantify the impact and importance of health in rural America. Sure, one could use traditional percentages, calculations, and data, but the true measure of impact often lies in people’s stories. It is the elderly woman who is able to have dialysis treatments in her rural hometown, avoiding costly and difficult travel to the city. It is the reflective fifth-grader who wants to be a doctor when he grows up because he was inspired by a science event sponsored by medical students.

Driven by the stories of the people it serves, a small North Dakota organization on the fourth floor of a nondescript university building ended up becoming a major piston in the engine which impacts 25 percent of people in the United States: rural health care.

The Center for Rural Health, at the University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine and Health Sciences, with its straightforward focus on improving health for people in rural communities, “has challenged the country to pay attention,” said H. David Wilson, M.D., dean of the UND medical school.

“Their efforts to ensure that people in rural areas have access to quality and affordable health care are shining a spotlight on the state in a major way.”

For most of its 28 years, the Center has worked quietly on addressing a variety of rural health issues, both in North Dakota and across the United States. Now, armed with an arsenal of major new projects on national, state and local levels, the Center is not only making strides at home, but all across the country, and with the nation’s spotlight tracking their every move.

The Center for Rural Health probably isn’t a household name to most folks in North Dakota outside of the health care field. Yet nationwide, the Center constitutes a rural health all-star team. “The depth and breadth of the Center’s rural health impact is unique in the country,” said Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). “UND’s Center for Rural Health is truly a model for rural health in the nation.”

In 2008, while the rest of the country was experiencing an economic meltdown, the Center brought in an unprecedented $5.9 million in new grants and projects, adding nine people to the staff for a total of 51 employees.

“The growth is important, and while Center faculty and staff work hard to successfully compete in a national arena, we also know that what we’re doing still isn’t enough,” said Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Center’s director and associate dean for rural health at the UND medical school. “The challenges to ensuring accessible, high quality, efficient care for rural North Dakota and rural America are substantial. However, the commitment and energy to do our part runs high at the Center.”

That energy is palpable as you walk through the hallways of the Center, located within the UND medical school. There is just something about working at an academic institution, with its continuous flow of students and eye toward educating the next generation, that creates a contagious enthusiasm to be stewards of health care in rural areas.

“It’s the one virus we hope to pass along,” jokes Wakefield.

There are more than 40 rural health programs and research projects currently underway at the Center. “We have an extremely collaborative atmosphere here,” said Brad Gibbens, associate director for community development and policy. “We collaborate with over 2,000 entities across the state and nation. That’s what rural health is all about. You can’t do it alone; you have to work together to fashion change in a way that is inclusive of a variety of thoughts and ideas to help rural communities to be stronger. “

Wakefield agrees. “Frankly, we think rural health care systems and providers lead in innovation and efficiency. If you couple that with new opportunities in technology and build networks across facilities and communities, working to strengthen rural health care becomes a very exciting focus. To do that, we work as many angles as we can—from helping a small hospital recruit a new health care provider to education federal policymakers with new research findings.”

That’s impact.

When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Doctor

Some children know from an early age exactly what they want to do when they grow up. Rylan Setness, a sixth-grader at Park River Elementary School in Park River, ND, is certain he wants to be a doctor.

“I want to go into general medicine,” he said in a recent interview, with a reflective seriousnesswell beyond his 11 years of age. “I also want to do missionary medicine, and even work with kids—it would be fun to travel to Australia.”

While Rylan has been tinkering with his career choice for a couple of years, a few events earlier this year cemented his decision to venture into the field of medicine. He attended a program at school called Inspector Wellness and the Case of the Many Medical Careers. The five-week program was a partnership effort between Park River’s Elementary School and First Care Health Center to educate the community’s fifth-graders about health careers. He also attended Science Day at the University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine and Health Sciences, a free event for fifth- and sixth-graders designed to get kids fired up for science by featuring a hands-on approach to learning things like “grossology” from UND’s medical students.

Programs that enhance North Dakota’s health care workforce pipeline, like Inspector Wellness, Science Day, and others, are central to a new joint venture between UND’s Center for Rural Health and College of Nursing. With $1.28 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, they will develop and implement an Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program in North Dakota.

Until now, North Dakota was one of only a few U.S. states without a federally funded AHEC, the goal of which is to help clinics and hospitals recruit and retain health care workers in underserved areas, address workforce shortages, and educate students about career options in health care.

Since it will be roughly 17 years before Rylan can actually become a licensed, practicing physician, the new North Dakota AHEC focuses on community-based health care training through all levels of the workforce pipeline. Health career awareness programs will be developed for students in grade school and high school while new clinical opportunities will be developed for health professional students at the college and graduate level.

“Models for elementary students, such as Dickinson’s Medical Explorers and Park River’s Inspector Wellness Program, are examples of efforts through the AHEC that can be spread across North Dakota communities to encourage our youth to consider health care fields,” said Mary Amundson, assistant professor at the UND Center for Rural Health, and director for the North Dakota AHEC project. A unique aspect of the North Dakota AHEC is advancing interdisciplinary training in North Dakota.

Three regional Area Health Education Centers will be developed across the East, Central and Western regions of the state to provide a variety of training experiences, and the program itself is based at the UND Center for Rural Health in Grand Forks. These Centers will link UND with local communities, hospitals and clinics to augment health-related training activities in each region.

“The North Dakota AHEC Program is a wonderful partnering opportunity for the UND College of Nursing and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. We will build relationships with institutions throughout North Dakota to support collaboration between academic partners and community-based programs,” said Loretta Heuer, PhD, professor at the UND College of Nursing and co-program director of the North Dakota AHEC.

“We’ll be able to address the primary health care workforce needs along with increasing access to health care and disease prevention to medically underserved communities in North Dakota.”

Programs will be established and extended for college students to provide awareness of health care career options as well as rural practice opportunities.

“Our goal is to improve access to the health care workforce,” said Patricia Moulton, PhD, assistant professor at the Center for Rural Health- Minot and co-director of the North Dakota AHEC. “This will ultimately increase access to health care in underserved areas of North Dakota.”

Additional support for this initiative is being provided by the University of North Dakota and the Dakota Medical Foundation to equal a total of $1.6 million.

In the meantime, Rylan Setness will continue to expand his knowledge of livers and eyeballs and explore the wonders of the human body in pursuit of a very rewarding, and very necessary, career in medicine.

last place

I'm so busy writing for work and writing for class that my watertower of words seems to run dry by the end of the day.

So, since I've got nothing new to add, let's enjoy the fantastic writings of another, shall we?

This is a beautiful, poignant story about a female runner at the Olympics. You probably never saw her; I sure didn't. However, I think she embodies the true spirit of an Olympian. The story has been haunting me all day so I just had to share it with you.