West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships Advisory Panel Meeting Minutes October 9, 1995 Days Inn, Flatwoods, WV Dr. Weston opened the meeting by welcoming everyone to the WVRHEP Advisory Panel meeting. Hilda R. Heady, WVRHEP’s Executive Director, introduced new members who were attending the Advisory Panel meeting for the first time: Dr. Jane Martin, Mr. Tom Whittier, Mr. Arbie Dransfield, Dr. Tom Steele and Ms. Lana Cantoni. Dr. Weston introduced Dr. Ann Chester, Project Director of HSTA who presented an overview of the Health Sciences Technology Academy Project (HSTA). Dr. Weston stated that along with the WVRHEP and other programs, the HSTA program is one of the pieces of our overall initiative and strategy to develop and train “home-grown” health professionals for our rural communities. Dr. Chester presented to the Panel that the goal of the HSTA program is to increase the number of disadvantaged and African American high school students from West Virginia who pursue postsecondary education in the areas of health science. In the summer program, the students are exposed to hands-on science and math projects led by teachers trained by WVU faculty to enhance their skills and leadership development. During the academic year they are involved in community projects to develop communication skills and the ability to help provide solutions to community problems. They will be encouraged to return to underserved areas in West Virginia to practice their careers. Plans are underway to set up a local board membership which consists of: 1 community member, 1 local school, 1 health care professional, 1 parent of a HSTA student, 1 HSTA student, 1 Kellogg/RHI regional site coordinator and 1 Kellogg/RHI site representative. Dr. Chester thanked the WVRHEP sites that have been collaborative partners and for giving HSTA their support thus far and commended the site coordinators for their work in implementing the program at the local site level. Dr. William McCutcheon and Dr. Richard Meckstroth presented an orientation on dental education for the WVU School of Dentistry. Dr. McCutcheon gave an overview of the requirements for entering the School of Dentistry. Dr. Meckstroth explained what was expected of the students and the various ways that dental health care is encouraged in the communities by way of service learning experiences, projects such as Bright Smiles, Bright Futures, WV School-Based Preventive Dentistry Program, Sports Injury Prevention Project and Tobacco Awareness, Education and Cessation Projects. He also presented a letter from one of his students (Dr. Mike Moore) sharing his experience of his participation in the Rural Health Education Partnerships program. Dr. Moore stated that he would recommend this program to everyone because it is a major positive experience. Dr. Meckstroth presented a WV map with all of the offices used for student rotations, a total of 19. He stated that every office has different learning experiences. He also reported that there has been 100% participation of dental students in the Rural Health Rotations. Dr. Weston called to move the consent calendar. On the move by Dr. Ferrari and the second of Dr. Jane Martin, the panel voted to approve the consent calendar. Dr. Weston stated that he wanted to have the goals statements referred to the School Committee for some rewriting before they are to be presented to the Panel for final approval. Hilda Heady reviewed the status of the Integration plans from each of the consortium. Each lead agency received letters in late September requesting specific information or clarification concerning these plans. These revised plans are due by November 1, 1995. The Panel will consider the proposal from the “Western Counties Consortium” to create a new consortium at the November meeting. This proposal will be mailed to panel members prior to the meeting. Helen Baker reported on the Faculty Development Task Force goals and guiding principles. The goals of the Task Force are to: improve Faculty/Preceptor skills in teaching and education administration, improve Field Faculty knowledge of Program goals and policies, provide a mechanism for feedback from Field Faculty to program leadership, provide a mechanism for interaction between Field Faculty and campus-based faculty/administration, and provide a mechanism for interaction among Field Faculty. The Statewide Faculty Development programs sponsored by the Task Force are: 1)Thursday, October 26, 1995 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. in Barboursville, in conjunction with the Rural Health Conference 2) Saturday April 20, 10:00 a.m., Canaan Valley (tentative) in conjunction with the State Health Education Council (SHEC) conference 3) Fall, 1996 in conjunction with the Rural Health Conference (tentative). John Mooney reported for the Curriculum Committee. The committee is addressing the process assessment issues raised in the September 8 letter from Dr. Weston and Hilda Heady to all committees. The committee has met twice and is developing their membership structure and clarifying their mission, which they expect completed by the November meetings. Their recommendations on Policies will be completed 1 week from the 10th of October. Tom Whittier reported for Cecil Pollard for the Evaluation Committee. He reported questions that the committee had on 3 different issues: 1. Should they have a proactive role (not just collection of data)? 2. The role of evaluation being objective and independent of administration. 3. What are administration functions? Should there be budgetary help for Chairmen? There was some discussion. Arnie Hassen asked for clarification of the evaluation coordinator’s role. Bill Carlton suggested contracting out for these services. In response to these questions Dr. Weston responded that he feels we are proactive with what we are doing in the evaluation of the projects and that we need to start to look at the integration of the evaluation of the Kellogg and RHI projects. The budget will cover the evaluation functions currently funded by Kellogg at the schools and this has always been planned this way. Hilda Heady stated that she would like to hear from the Committee on what they would like to see prior to making any comment, since the committee has raised a question about the independence and objectivity of the current evaluation approach. Lynne Welch also stated that she would like to see what the committee would suggest.. It was agreed that the committee would be finished with their recommendations by the next meeting (November 13, 14, 1995). The appointment of future Community Members to the Panel will be completed when all of the nominations for community member positions from the consortia have been submitted. This will help expedite the process through the Governor’s Office if all nominees are sent together. Dr. Weston asked the Advisory Panel how they felt about having meetings every other month or scheduling them for each month and meeting only if there is a full agenda. Tom Whittier suggested having the meetings scheduled on a monthly basis and then reviewed for meeting necessity. This will benefit all involved by blocking off time on everyone’s calendar. Moved by Sarah Lee Neal and on second by Tom Whittier the Panel approved the motion to schedule meetings every month and to meet on necessary basis only. Hilda announced that a reception and dinner would be held in February in lieu of the monthly meeting and that legislators would be invited. Chuck Connor suggested to combine this with the Rural Health Legislative Day. April Vestal and Dianne Hughes volunteered to assist with planning this event. Jacquelyn Copenhaver presented a report on the performance of the Fayette-Raleigh consortium related to their 6 month goals. Rick Pushkin, a medical student who completed a rotation at the Fayette-Raleigh Consortium reported on his experiences and his impressions as being a part of the interdisciplinary team. David Ellenwood, Performance Manager Coordinator, reported on the Monthly Report Summary. He distributed the report and described the format and the meaning of each heading. Dr. Walker requested that the format be broken down with total student weeks by school. The meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM and the next meeting is November 13, 1995 at 3:00 PM at the Days Inn in Flatwoods.