Fall Business Breakfast - Rural Healthcare
Updated: 8 hours ago
Downtown Colonial Beach, along with its partners, the Town of Colonial Beach and the Colonial Beach Chamber of Commerce, conducted the semi-annual Business Breakfast on October 15 at the Ice House Marina and Brewery. The event featured an informative conversation with four dynamic panelists representing different aspects of the very large "rural healthcare" topic.
DCB President Kelly Woods Vaughn opened the meeting with a hearty welcome and Colonial Beach Town Manager Natasha Tucker set the stage for the discussion by reminding the audience that, "Colonial Beach is within the southernmost boundary of the Washington, DC, Statistical Metropolitan Area (SMA), but it sometimes feels like we are in the farthest reaches of southwest Virginia. Access to healthcare providers is scant -- from licensed general practitioners to dentists, from mental and behavioral health treatment options to reasonable access to diagnostics. With an increased focus on wellness and healthcare opportunities through technology, rural healthcare is rapidly changing and this partnership is happy to convene a 'fireside chat' conversation, facilitated by Benny Bowman, about the state of rural healthcare in Virginia and implications for Colonial Beach and our surrounding area."
The panelists, representing subject matter experts from the state, regional and local levels, included:
Tim Perkins, who has worked for the Virginia Department of Health for 20 years, including his current role as Director of the Virginia State Office of Rural Health and the Health Access and Community Engagement Team Lead for the VDH Office of Health Equity. Previously, Tim was Director of the Division of Community Health and Technical Resources for the Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services, within VDH. In this role he was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day activities of several projects including rural EMS, recruitment and retention, air medical services, mobile integrated healthcare, and telehealth.
Brandon Rivenbark, who serves as the Rural Hospital Program Manager with the Virginia Department of Health’s State Office of Rural Health. In this role, he works with rural hospitals and healthcare partners across Virginia to strengthen access to care and support initiatives focused on improving rural healthcare delivery. Brandon also supports VDH’s enterprise-wide implementation of the Virginia Rural Health Transformation Program, including efforts focused on community paramedicine and innovative maternal health.
Shirley Bazdar, who is program manager for the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation’s Opportunities program. With 30 years of experience in public school education, her career has focused on providing high school students with career pathways to prepare them to be college and career ready. Her recent work is centered on the Virginia Partnership for Health Science Careers, a statewide network of nine regional sector partnerships working to identify and address healthcare workforce needs in communities throughout the state.
Jenny Sydnor -- RN, BSN, MBA, who is a Colonial Beach native and owner/operator of Potomac Point Wellness. She has spent over two decades in nursing, healthcare leadership, and clinical excellence, and created Potomac Point Wellness, a physician-led wellness practice in Colonial Beach, to give residents of her community -- and the Northern Neck region -- access to high-quality, personalized wellness care without having to drive hours away.
Emcee Bowman opened the conversation by stating that, "In rural areas, such as Colonial Beach, Westmoreland County and most of the Northern Neck that don’t have a hospital, the focus of the “rural healthcare” discussion shifts to workforce, infrastructure, economics, and community-level access." He then posed questions such as the following to the panelists:
In terms of workforce, how severe is the shortage of non-physician providers (such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dental hygienists, or medical assistants) in rural Virginia, and what is being done to address the issue? And related, what is being done to educate and recruit non-physician providers?
In terms of infrastructure and economics, given that broadband internet gaps still impact over half of some rural populations, how can local businesses or tech providers collaborate to build 'telehealth hubs' in non-traditional spaces like libraries, pharmacies, or retail centers?
And, when examining rural healthcare through the lens of wellness, rather than hospital or commercial urgent care systems, the focus shifts to preventive care, localized infrastructure, lifestyle medicine, and community equity. How can trusted local figures (such as community leaders, local pharmacists, or agricultural advisors) lead or champion wellness habits and what community-driven programs have been most successful in curbing chronic obesity and diabetes?
At the conclusion of the “fireside chat,” Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tim Trivett, who represents Colonial Beach, spoke for a few minutes about the Westmoreland County Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) program that brings community paramedics and EMS clinicians directly into residents' homes to provide health assessments, chronic disease and medication management, preventive care, and post-hospital discharge follow-ups.
To learn more about this important topic and the great information that was presented at the Business Breakfast, watch this video.
