Presenter: Rebecca Adkins Fletcher, Ph.D. (she/her)
Associate Professor, Department of Appalachian Studies; Assistant Director, Center for Appalachian Studies & Services; Director, Governor's School for Tennessee History and Environmental Studies; Co-Editor, Appalachian Places: Stories from the Highlands Magazine, East Tennessee State University

Dr. Fletcher will discuss place-based approaches, including syndemics, bright spots, and vital places, to explore models of addressing SDOH. A syndemic approach emphasizes understanding the how diseases and their underlying social, economic, and environmental drivers affect health. Bright Spots are communities or regions that demonstrate better-than-expected health outcomes despite their resources and other impactful characteristics.  Vital Places are community spaces that support health, such as healthy food sources, recreational facilities, and gathering spaces. 

Session 1: Unraveling the Web: Strategies for Navigating Healthcare-related Mis/disinformation in the Social Media Era.

This session will describe a successful community outreach effort founded in 2021 with funding from the *Tennessee Department of Health and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Presenter: Melissa J. Geist, EdD, MSN, PPCNP-BC, FNP-BC, Professor of Nursing, Whitson-Hester School of Nursing, Board Certified Family and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Tennessee Tech University

Session 2:Un-Natural Supports: The Familial Responsibility in a Complex Healthcare System

This session will explore the lived experience of parenting a child with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Tennessee, with a focus on how families manage care within a complex and often fragmented healthcare system.

Presenters: Chrissy Hood- Peer Support Coordinator, Family Voices of Tennessee;

Tonya Bowman, M.S.- Family Resource Specialist, Family Voices of Tennessee

Session 3: SNAP, Medicaid, and Your Community – Navigating New Realities

This session will discuss cuts to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and Medicaid that will result in millions of people losing access to vital food assistance and healthcare, leading to increased poverty, hunger, and poorer health outcomes. Our presentation will focus on the repeal of Medicaid’s Nursing Home Staffing Rule and upcoming restrictions to SNAP participation.
Presenters: Shana Watkins, BA, MA, and Signe Anderson, MS

Session 4: Innovating Solutions in Rural Tennessee: Healthcare Industry Leaders Brainstorm a Theoretical Grant Live with the Audience

Panelists will innovate healthcare solutions for a fictional open grant application built through prompts by moderator Lacey Lyons of THCC. Attendants will be asked to take notes and do their own inspirational healthcare brainstorming while they listen.
The goal is to inspire participants to think outside the box and increase the building blocks for community-led solutions for when future opportunities may arise via legislation or funding. At the end of the session, all attendants will be asked to turn in their ideas, including their needs lists. After the conference is over, we will connect with individuals whose ideas align with our mission or who fill the gaps.

Panelists: Wendell Potter is the editor in Chief at HEALTH CARE un-covered, a 20-year healthcare corporate leader, whistleblower and author of Deadly Spin; Nation on the Take; For Want of a Dentist and ObamaCare: What's in It for Me? More can be read at http://www.wendellpotter.com

Jeff Eastman, MBA, is the CEO of Remote Area Medical. Since its founding, RAM has provided free healthcare to over 1,000,000 people in the United States and abroad. RAM's services are delivered via mobile clinics that utilize tractor-trailers, mobile vision labs and telehealth units. More than 150 separate operations are normally scheduled throughout the year.

Jacy Warrell, MPA, CEO of Rural Health Association of Tennessee (RHAT.) At the RHAT, she guided the organization through strategic expansion, raising over $12.5 million in funding, increasing membership by 60% annually, and growing net assets nearly 200%.

Moderator: Lacey Lyons, MFA, serves as the communications coordinator for Tennessee Health Care Campaign. She has 21 years of writing, editing and advocacy experience, including 10 spent teaching English with an emphasis in disability studies at Belmont University. She served as the board chair of Disability Rights Tennessee and a researcher/writer for agencies like The Arc and Shirley Ryan Ability Lab at Northwestern University. Her writing has been published by outlets such as Southern Review of Books, STAT News and Technology Advice.

BACKGROUND:   Current efforts in Washington to reduce federal spending on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and other agencies that work in partnership with states to promote health and welfare could have significant consequences for state budgets and for services directed at underserved communities. This panel will focus on the projected changes in the federal budget and how those will impact state investments in TennCare, Cover Kids, the Adult Health and Mental Health Safety Net programs, rural health infrastructure and other public health programs. Panelists will also discuss how advocacy efforts can be targeted to minimize the impact of federal cuts on Tennessee communities.

PANELISTS:

• Mandy Spears, Executive Vice President/Deputy Director, The Sycamore Institute
• State Senator Jeff Yarbro, Democrat, Senate Health Committee member
• State Representative Renea Jones, Republican, House Insurance Committee member

MODERATOR:  Carole R. Myers PhD, RN, FAAN, Senior Fellow at the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement at George Washington University and Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville