Honoring Graham Adams, belatedly

Every year, the Department of Health Services Policy and Management, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina bestows the Michael and Saundra Samuals Outstanding Alumni award to one of our Department's own. This year, in recognition of his ongoing contributions to rural public health, the 2011 award went to Graham Adams, MPH, PhD. Since USC's graduation coincided with the National Rural Health Association conference, Dr. Adams was not able to receive his award at his alma mater's ceremony. While a lunch and a presentation by our interim chair, Dr. Dave Murday, aren't a real substitute for being honored in front of the entire Arnold School, we can at least repeat his accolades, read at graduation, here.
Dr. Adams received his undergraduate degree from Frostburg State University, Frostburg, Maryland and completed his his MPH and PhD degrees at the University of South Carolina.

Dr. Adams has worked with the South Carolina Office of Rural Health Since 1995, advancing to Chief Executive Officer. During his career in rural health, Dr. Adams has emerged as a national leader and advocate for rural persons and institutions. Dr. Adams serves on the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services (NACRHHS), a 21-member citizens' panel of nationally recognized rural health experts that provides recommendations on rural issues to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. A past Trustee on the Board of the National Rural Health Association, Dr. Adams currently chairs the Development Committee of the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health, having previously served as the NOSORH President.
Locally, Dr. Adams has built the South Carolina Office of Rural Health, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, into one of the largest, and the most proactive, offices of rural health in the nation. The South Carolina Office of Rural Health serves rural communities through offering health professions recruitment and retention services, a revolving loan program to help new practices get started or existing services to improve, and assisting in the deployment of new technologies. The SCORH also offers support services for certified Rural Health Clinics, acts as an advocate for rural providers, and disseminates information regarding legislative and policy issues impacting rural health. The SCORH also runs the Benefit Bank of South Carolina, a web-based system that helps match families with benefits for which they are eligible. All of these services reflect Dr. Adams’ foresight and leadership.

Great times in Austin; lessons on the way home

Wonderful to meet up with all sorts of rural people in decidely non-rural Austin, TX. Lots of great ideas exchanged.

Our students, Jordan Mitchell and Tushar Trivedi, presented their work on home health care and metabolic syndrome, respectively. Actually managed to get a photo of Jordan.

Jan wasn't supposed to

participate in any presentations, but rural means helping a neighbor. So when Mike Samuels fell ill and couldn't participate in a border health discussion, Jan filled in for him.

The way home was not full of rural good-spiritedness for one of our students, who was witness to part of the episode in which two Muslim imams were required to leave a Delta airlines flight from Memphis to Charlotte when the pilot refused to fly with them on board [http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110507/ts_alt_afp/usattacksbinladenmuslimsaviation]. Ironically, the men were flying to a conference on discrimination against Muslims. The student was present for the men's second screening before being allowed to board a second flight:

Well, the flight they were originally scheduled for was set to depart at 8:10 that morning, we were on their ‘rescheduled’ flight – after the pilot of the original flight kicked them off. Also, if THAT wasn’t bad enough, TSA did a full body pat down (more intense than I have ever seen) and searched all of their luggage at the gate for the afternoon flight.

One could obviously tell that the other passengers were ‘anxious/hesitant’ about their presence. However after I saw them really getting patted down – I felt that their civil liberties were being trashed…

Ending on a more positive note: The bats were great.

News Tidbits and Off to Austin

Two updates on our faculty and staff.

First, Dr. Amy Martin took the students in her (award winning!) rural health perspectives course on a field trip to the South Carolina Low Country last Monday. In the photo, the student are posed around the famous Angel Oak [http://www.angeloaktree.org/], near Charleston, SC. Students pronounced it "something out of Avatar."

Next, a photo of our staffer Jordan Mitchell, whose poster, "Poverty and Rural Effects on Edentulism Prevalence", took first place at the poster exhibit portion of the fourth annual James E. Clyburn lecture series.

See everyone in Austin!

In memoriam

The faculty and staff of the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center mourn the passing of Rosemary McKenzie, minority health liaison and program services manager at the National Rural Health Association (NRHA).
Rosemary had been part of the South Carolina family since our Center was founded, in 2000. As an advocate for rural minority health, Ms. McKenzie served on our national advisory workgroup from 2000 until her recent death. Her passion for populations often lost in the majority white demographics of rural America kept us honest and engaged. Over the years, we used Rosemary's guidance as we developed our multiple presentations for the annual NRHA Rural Multiracial and Multicultural Health conferences, as well as for NRHA's annual conference.
We remember Rosemary as a spirited, stylish woman whose energy lit up every room she entered. If the Father's house has many mansions, we are assured that she is lighting those up, as well.

Picture: Rosemary at a meeting in the South Carolina Rural Health Research Center, 2004.

The good and the bad of working with media: flu

We were delighted that the University of South Carolina Office of Media Relations choose to feature some recent publications from our Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)-funded Center work. If only they had understood that we weren't working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention!

Oh well, at least the "get a flu shot" message got out. Thanks to our own Kevin Bennett:

On who gets flu shots

http://www.sc.edu/portal2/carolinaminutes/m_1290448691.mp3

On flu myths

http://www.sc.edu/portal2/carolinaminutes/m_1290448805.mp3

Off to Tucson!

The SCRHRC will have multiple presentations at the upcoming NRHA Minority and Multi-cultural Health Conference. Working on cutting down our presentations to the right size -- We love what we do, so our first drafts tend to contain way more information than anyone else is likely to be interested in.

Looking forward to seeing old friends in a couple of days!

Rural Congress Representative

Congrats to all of the newly elected NRHA members. And special thanks to the new Rural Congress Constituency Group representative for Research and Education, our own Kevin Bennett.