This week on Rural Health Leadership Radio™ we’re talking about Telehealth in Rural America. We’re having that conversation with Dr. Windy Alonso, Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Nursing, Dr. Elizabeth Crouch, Assistant Professor and Deputy Director of the Rural and Minority Health Research Center at the University of South Carolina, and Nicole Thorell, Chief Nursing Officer at Lexington Regional Health Center. Wendy, Elizabeth and Nicole were 2018-2019 Rural Health Fellows with the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), where they focused on Telehealth in Rural America, culminating in a Policy Paper presented to and adapted by the NRHA Rural Health Congress.
“Leadership involves balance, humility, fortitude and mentoring”
~Windy Alonso, Ph.D.
Dr. Windy Alonso is currently a post-doctoral research associate in the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She received her PhD in Nursing from the Pennsylvania State University College of Nursing, University Park, PA in 2017. Windy is a first-generation college student who was inspired by her rural upbringing to pursue a career as a nurse scientist. She has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Heart Failure Society of America, the Rural Nurse Organization, and the Midwest Nursing Research Society to pursue strategies to improve the lives of individuals with heart failure living in rural areas. Dr. Alonso has disseminated her work in rural heart failure regionally, nationally, and internationally through numerous presentations and publications. Her commitment to improving rural health led to her recognition as a National Rural Heath Association Rural Health Fellow and a Nebraska Action Coalition 40 Under 40 Emerging Nurse Leader in 2018.
“Telehealth encompasses more than people realize.”
~Elizabeth Crouch, Ph.D.
Dr. Elizabeth Crouch is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Services Policy and Management within the Arnold School of Public Health and Deputy Director of the Rural and Minority Health Research Center. Her work focuses on policy-related issues across the age spectrum in vulnerable populations at the beginning of life (children) and the end of life (elderly), with a particular focus in rural-urban disparities. She is highly experienced in claims analysis, particularly Medicaid and Medicare claims. Elizabeth has produced 40 peer-reviewed articles with over half of these articles involving analysis of Medicaid, Medicare, or private health insurance plan claims.
“The barriers are really our target areas for improvement when looking at telehealth.”
~Nicole Thorell, MSN, CEN
Nicole Thorell, MSN, CEN, is the Chief Nursing Officer at Lexington Regional Health Center in Lexington, Nebraska. Nicole has been at Lexington Regional for ten years, and has been in this position for four years. Prior to this, she was a staff nurse and Director of Nursing Quality in the facility. Nicole received her diploma in nursing from Bryan College of Health Sciences, and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Masters of Science in Nursing from Kaplan University.