NH AHEC Health Service Scholars Opportunities

For NH AHEC HS Scholars only.

---

These events are open to all and can be “counted” toward NH AHEC HS Scholar activity hours.

Structural Competence and Cultural Humility to Address Disparities and Inequities: A Foundational Health Equity Training

Monday, May 23, 2022 (9:00 am–12:30pm)
Location: https://www.vpqhc.org/healthequitytrainings

Presenter:
Maria Mercedes Avila, PhD, MSW, MED provides consultation and training on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice and has trained more than 7500 providers across 27 states and 150+ organizations (hospitals, community health centers, departments of health and mental health, mental health and disability agencies, family and youth serving organizations, higher education institutions, and schools). Since 2011, Dr. Avila has been invited to lead 48 national presentations and 100+ regional sessions on topics related to National CLAS Standards, health disparities, social justice in health care, culturally responsive care and practice, social determinants of health, health and racial equity, and cultural competence in advocacy and leadership. Dr. Avila has received 14 service, training, and research awards for her work on health equity.

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate increased self-awareness of racial, ethnic and class biases; Define cultural and linguistic competency and indicate familiarity with the stages of cultural competency (or continuum); Describe the implications of demographic trends for health disparities; Identify links between racial and health inequities and health disparities; Integrate National CLAS Standards into practice and service providing; Describe how cultural beliefs shape clinical encounters and patients’ health outcomes; Incorporate structural competence and cultural humility into service providing.

Standing Orders in the Primary Care Setting

Tuesday, May 24, 2022 (11:00 am)
Location: Zoom.  Register here.

Presenters
Mary Blankson, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, Chief Nursing Officer, Community Health Center, Inc. and Veena Channamsetty, MD, FAAFP, Chief Medical Officer of Community Health Center, Inc.

Description
A hands-on activity session to explore a standard framework for thinking about and developing standing orders. Standing orders in the primary care setting allows for patient care to be shared among all members of the care team including medical assistants and nurses for the facilitation of timely interventions and the removal of barriers to care. Standing orders enable all members of the care team to function to their fullest capacity. As a participant, you will leave this session with a tangible framework as well as strategies to successfully implement standing orders.

Climate & Health Project ECHO: Evolving Ecosystem Impacts on Vector-Borne and other Diseases

Wednesday, May 25, 2022 (12:00–1:00 pm)
Location: Register here

Description
Join NH HWCA, Dartmouth Hitchcock, and the NH Medical Society for a Climate & Health Project ECHO every other Wednesday from 12:00 – 1:00 PM ET. Most healthcare workers are concerned about the impact of climate change on our futures. However, attention to the current effects of climate change on health is only beginning to emerge as an integral part of health professional education and practice. This series will bring together diverse healthcare workers to learn and to share strategies for integrating climate concerns into care of our patients and communities. We will also gain knowledge and tools to become effective advocates to reduce climate impacts on health. As trusted members of our communities, we are ideal messengers to promote actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The time to act is now.

Deconstructing Substance Use and Wellness from a Sociocultural Perspective

Wednesday, May 25, 2022 (3:00–4:00 pm)
Location: Register here

Presenter
Karla Sapp, EdD, LPC-S, LMHC-S, NCC, has been practicing for 13 years, specializing in mental health and addictions counseling within the following settings: inpatient acute hospitalization, outpatient, drug court, and federal correctional environment.

Description
We will uncover the sociocultural issues that affect the acceptance, retention, and treatment outcomes of clients who have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder as well as provide culturally responsive interventions that can be utilized to ensure the process of recovery from a wellness perspective is established and maintained.

Youth Mental Health and Climate Change: Strategies to Support Coping at the Intersection of Two Crises

Thursday, May 26, 2022  (6:00–7:00 pm)
Location: Zoom.  Register https://www.nhclimatehealth.org/our-events

Presenter
Elizabeth Pinsky is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is the Associate Director of the Pediatric Psychiatry Consultation Service, and at Shriner’s Hospital for Children Boston. Her clinical interests focus on the intersection of child mental and physical health, including trauma and fostering resilience in medically ill children. She believes that climate change poses the most urgent threat to children at that intersection of physical and mental health, and that clinicians caring for children must advocate for a rapid and just transition off fossil fuels. She serves as the Associate Director for Advocacy at the MGH Center for Environment and Health and is also a founding member of Climate Code Blue, a Boston-area climate action group for physicians and other health professionals. 

---

In-person trainings and conferences

3RNET Annual Conference: The Nation’s Most Trusted Resource for Health Professionals Seeking Careers in Rural and Underserved Communities

August 30 & 31, 2022
Location: DoubleTree by Hilton, Manchester, New Hampshire

About the Conference: Join 100 attendees, speakers, and fellow sponsors from across the country coming together to learn more about recruitment and retention in rural and underserved areas. Attendees include 3RNET Network Coordinators (who represent over 6,000 employers in rural and underserved areas across the country), federal partners, and more. https://conference.3rnet.org/about.html

Participation Tracking: What, How, Why?

NH AHEC HS Scholars is funded by HRSA, the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  HRSA is the primary federal agency for improving health care to people who are geographically isolated, economically or medically vulnerable.  This means, of course, that with the funding comes the need to report on your activities.  We aim to make this easy.  Here’s how it works:

1. Apply to the NH AHEC Scholars program here.  Give us a few sentences that describe your interest in doing so.  Answer a few questions.  Approx time needed: 5 min.
2. Once we review and accept your application, we will email you a baseline survey to gather information about you as you begin the program.  Approx time needed: 7-10 min.
3. You check out our website, with recorded sessions and other didactic resources.
4. We will email you regular newsletters about upcoming opportunities that we organize or that we think are of interest and relevant.   
5. Attended a session organized or advertised by the AHEC?  Great!  We want to know.  There are two ways to report it:
   • Go to the link of the event on our calendar, and in the description of the event, click on the Activity Log.  Give us a brief response to our questions.  Approx eval time needed: 5 min.                 
     
     -OR-
   • Keep track of it on your own, and report your attendance in the December or June Participation Tracker Survey, which will be emailed to you.
   • If you report some activities via the Activity Log and some via the Participation Tracker Survey, that’s good too!
6. Attended a non-AHEC session pertaining to one of the following topics?  Also great!  Report it via the Activity Log, as well as the emailed Participation Tracker Survey, as above.
   • Rural health care
   • Care for medically underserved populations, including those in urban areas
   • Primary care
   • Behavioral health integration into primary care
   • Telehealth
   • Substance use disorders and treatment
   • Social determinants of health
   • COVID-19
   • Addressing health disparities and inequities in NH
   • Interprofessional education and health care delivery
   • Practice transformation
7. Did you do community volunteering?  You rock. Seriously. Tell us via the Activity Log or the Participation Tracker Survey—no matter what the activity.  Let us decide if we will be able to report it for AHEC purposes.
8. Tell us about your clinical work, including volunteering, shadowing, and interning, even that which is required by your academic program.  Report it via the Activity Log or the Participation Tracker Survey.

Questions?  Let me know!

Scholars’ Bios

Add your bio to our Scholars’ page! Please forward a photo (png, jpeg fine; as high a resolution as possible) and a brief introduction to yourself (150–250 words). You are welcome to re-use something you’ve already used elsewhere!