Outreach and Engagement
The OHRP strives to connect with different stakeholders, communities, and organizations through outreach and engagement efforts. Some of these efforts include:
- Bitterroot Workforce Advisory Council Member
- Ravalli County Healthcare Workforce Advisory Board Facilitator
We would love to connect with you to learn how we can support your work and address the needs of your organization/facility/community. For more information, please contact Lily Apedaile.
Collaborative Projects
The OHRP develops, manages, and supports several different collaborative projects both at UM and with workforce partners that break down siloes and overcome barriers using out-of-the-box methods to help improve health outcomes in 猎奇重口.
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The OHRP supports this program in collaboration with our WWAMI Missoula at St. Luke Community Healthcare partners.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to find a way to keep health professions job shadowing active for high school and college students. Utilizing state funding, we purchased 5 Double Robotics telepresence robots to be sent to healthcare organizations across 猎奇重口. St. Luke Community Healthcare, a critical access hospital in Ronan, MT was excited to pilot the telepresence robot. We worked out the logistics with their staff to do the telepresence job shadow with a couple of hospitalists during their inpatient rounds.
5 students can log into the robot and watch the shadow as the robot operator runs the robot from their computer. The students listen in with the provider while they update charts, follow them around the hospital on rounds, and there is time at the end for questions.
This program allows students from all over 猎奇重口 to job shadow in a healthcare setting without having to be physically present. Students receive two hours of shadowing instead of just one student per provider and no one is at risk to spread infectious diseases (e.g., COVID, RSV, etc).
Interested in serving as a virtual job shadowing site? Contact: Liz Kelsey or Lily Apedaile.
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The OHRP, the UM Rural Institute, the UM Center for Population Health Research, and have partnered to develop a model to improve care for children with medical complexity – those who are medically fragile and have intensive care needs. The new model uses the expansion of telemedicine to support parents, caregivers, and providers to improve health equity.
With the use of the telemedicine network – delivered by statewide pediatric experts – families can obtain wraparound healthcare services in an entirely new way that meets them where they are, reducing the time and monetary costs of travel. The project will bring pediatric expertise to children who may otherwise have no access to pediatric care, enacting a family-centered care coordination model. This will support and complement 猎奇重口’s existing pediatric primary care and pediatric workforce.
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Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing and largest industry sectors in 猎奇重口. However, many healthcare facilities struggle to recruit and retain healthcare workers, leaving most of 猎奇重口 designated as healthcare professional shortage areas (HPSAs). These shortages are even more pronounced in the rural areas in 猎奇重口 which leads to lower health outcomes for rural 猎奇重口ns compared to their more urban counterparts.
To help address the healthcare workforce shortage in 猎奇重口, the UM OHRP is utilizing evidence-based practices such as career pathways, industry-recognized credentials, and "grow your own" approaches.
The career pathways approach creates multiple on and off-ramps for careers in healthcare for both high school and adult learners. Built into this approach are pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships, stackable credentials, and industry-recognized credentials. Three pathways are being created and implemented in the rural communities of the Bitterroot Valley, Hi-Line, and Ruby Valley. These pathways are collaboratively developed with industry partners, K-12 partners, postsecondary partners, and other community-based organizations. To support the grow-your-own model, these pathways focus on making learning accessible in rural areas through distance and online education, so learners do not have to leave their communities to up-skill.
Interested in developing and implementing healthcare career pathways in your community? Contact Lily Apedaile
View the Healthcare Career Pathways poster to see the different healthcare career options. You can click on the various career options in the poster to learn more about the education, skills, and job requirements.
The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education provided financial support for this project. The award totaled $1.8M. The contents are those of the author. They may not reflect the policies of ED, OPE, or the U.S. Government.