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The Alabama Rural Health Association is pleased to welcome six new board members who will begin a three-year term on July 1, 2024. These new board members were nominated and voted by their member peers throughout the state. They are as follows:

Lamont Dupree
Executive Director
North Alabama Area Health Education Center

Lamont Dupree is the new Executive Director of North Alabama Area Health Education Center (NA-AHEC) in Huntsville, AL. He served in numerous positions for NA-AHEC since 2015 including Associate Director most recently. During this time, Lamont oversaw the Center’s community health worker team and network of community health workers during the organization’s regional COVID response in rural Northern Alabama. His passion for students and healthcare led to his selection to Governor Ivey’s Alabama Committee on Credentialing and Career Pathways, Health Science Technical Advisory Committee where he serves as Chairperson. Additionally, he was also Governor-appointed to serve on the Alabama State Department of Education Course of Study Committee, Career and Technical Education Health Science. Lamont’s wealth of experience, knowledge, and passion for serving rural communities makes him an ideal candidate for the ARHA board of directors.

Mack G. Fitz-Gerald
Director, Clinic Operations
Whitfield Regional Hospital

Mack has over thirty-five years of experience in the rural healthcare setting and currently manages four full-time clinics, including two rural health clinics and two hospital-based clinics. The hospital-based clinics include an oncology clinic and a multi-provider specialty clinic that includes cardiovascular, orthopedics, ENT, pain, and surgery. In addition, Mack launched a fully-staffed mobile clinic that provides on-site healthcare for local businesses. His experience managing all business aspects of rural healthcare clinic operations, first for a privately-owned multi-provider practice and now for a rural hospital, give him a unique perspective into the challenges facing rural healthcare providers.

Dr. Samuel Gillespie
Physician
Lawrence Medical Center

Dr. Samuel Gillespie is one of the 9 providers within our rural health clinics. He is not only an outstanding physician but also a great teacher. He is very knowledgeable in all aspects of patient care from their treatment plan all the way through dealing with insurance and billing. He is also identified as a great leader who all of the staff of the facility admire.

Dr. Tim Littmann
Family Physician
Lake Martin Family Medicine

Tim Littmann, MD, is a family physician at Lake Martin Family Medicine. Dr. Littmann received a Bachelor of Science in Zoology in 2011 and a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology in 2014 from Auburn University. He graduated in 2018 with his Doctorate of Medicine from the UAB School of Medicine and completed his residency at North Alabama’s largest primary care practice in the UAB Huntsville Family Medicine Residency Program. During his residency, he was voted best resident teacher by both his students and his attendings. He continues to shape future generations of physicians and works a preceptor for UAB Heersink School of Medicine, Auburn University’s Rural Medicine Program, as well as with Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Littmann developed an interest for rural health while shadowing at Lake Martin Community Hospital as an undergraduate at Auburn. As a member of the Rural Medicine Program, he continued his studies at UAB with a focus in underserved areas. He also serves as a preceptor for rural medical students going to UAB as well as clinical faculty at VCOM teaching rural medicine rotations.

Dr. Zack Studstill
Executive Director
Alabama Dental Association

Dr. Zack Studstill, a native of Andalusia, graduated from the University of Alabama School of Dentistry and practiced general dentistry in Montgomery, AL until December of 2009. He has been involved in leadership positions with the Alabama Dental Association and the America Dental Association, having served on the Board of Trustees of both organizations. As a member of the Council on Governmental Affairs of the American Dental Association, he was given an opportunity to gain governmental affairs experience as the Council developed policy for dentistry on the national level.In 2010, he became Executive Director of the Alabama Dental Association. In his capacity as Executive Director, Dr. Studstill testified before Alabama House and Senate Legislative Committees on policy developed by the Alabama Dental Association’s Council on Legislation. He was appointed by Governor Ivey to serve on the Joint Interim Legislative Healthcare Workforce Taskforce which was charged to address the shortage of health care professionals in rural Alabama. As a part of his duties lobbying for the Association, he developed collegial working relationships with key legislators in the Alabama House and Senate and the Governor.

Dr. Mickey Trimm
Partner & Senior Vice President
Koble Health Services

J.M. “Mickey” Trimm, PhD has spent the past 45 years working in rural healthcare in Alabama. During that time he has worked in almost every segment of the state, from Tuscumbia to Fort Payne, to Brewton to Phenix City. He was a founding member of the Alabama Rural Health Association. Currently he serves as a partner and Senior Vice President for Koble Health Services where he is responsible for expanding behavioral and mental health services throughout Alabama and the Southeast. Prior to joining Kolbe in 2019, Dr. Trimm served at UAB as Associate Professor and Director for the Center for Healthcare Management & Leadership, teaching healthcare strategic management, research methods, information technology, and oversaw the development of the undergraduate internship program that places hundreds of students in healthcare organizations around the state. He is also the owner and principal consultant for TwoMark Health Services, the organization he founded in 1996 after completing his PhD in Health Administration at UAB. TwoMark was created to help rural communities improve their healthcare. Engagements included designing, constructing, and obtaining Certificate of Need applications for hospitals, clinics, and ambulatory surgical centers in rural communities, reviews for Critical Access Hospitals, and community needs assessments.Prior to founding TwoMark, he spent 16 years in the Administration of the Birmingham Baptist Health System, helping build that system to 11 hospitals throughout rural central Alabama.In addition to Dr. Trimm’s PhD in Health Administration, he holds an MBA from Samford University and a BS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Alabama. Dr. Trimm lives in Birmingham and owns a farm in rural Tuscaloosa County.

The Alabama Rural Health Association is a 1,000+ member organization supporting rural patients, providers, and communities throughout the State of Alabama. For more information, visit http://www.arhaonline.org or call 334-697-8541.

May 22, 2023

Former U.S. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama was recently awarded the Alabama Rural Health Association’s ‘Legislator of the Year’ award at the 2023 annual conference in Hoover.

“Senator Shelby and his staff were always receptive to our advocacy for issues around rural health and other issues that impact rural Alabama,” said Farrell Turner, president of the Alabama Rural Health Association (ARHA).

ARHA is the state’s leader in supporting and promoting rural healthcare. With a membership of more than 1,000 healthcare professionals statewide, the association is one of the largest in the nation and advocates for legislation and policy beneficial to rural providers and facilities. In addition, the association supplies education and training to healthcare providers in rural communities statewide.

Former Senator Shelby received this award due to his career of supporting rural health legislation. Such legislation included the Save Rural Hospitals Acts of 2020 and 2021, Fair Medicare Payments Model Act of 2017, and multiple bills supporting telehealth, broadband, and other elements supporting rural health.

“Former Senator Shelby is an exemplary leader in policy and public service,” said David L. Albright, PhD, president-elect of the ARHA. “We are grateful to him for a career supporting legislation building and sustaining communities across rural Alabama.”

For more information about the Alabama Rural Health Association and its awards recipients, visit http://www.arhaonline.org.

Photo taken by Matthew Wood.

The next cohort for the Delta Region Community Health Systems Development (DRCHSD) Program is forming now. They are accepting applications from interested facilities now to begin programming in Winter 2023.

To learn more about the program and application process, you are invited to attend an informational webinars for hospitals and FQHCs on Tuesday, June 6^th from 11am-12pm CST and for RHCs and small clinics on Thursday, June 29^th from 11am-12pm CST.

The DRCHSD program is a collaboration between FORHP, DRA and the National Rural Health Resource Center and has served 54 health care organizations and communities since 2017. The program is open to Critical Access Hospitals, small rural hospitals, Rural Health Clinics, and other rural health care organizations and offers nearly $250,000 per year in technical assistance around quality improvement, financial and operational improvement, telehealth, community care coordination, workforce/leadership development, emergency medical services, and population health. In addition to TA, the program also provides financial support to facilities for the development and implementation of telehealth services, which includes funding for equipment, hardware, software, and training. 

Eligible counties in the State of Alabama are included below.

DRA designated counties in Alabama:

Barbour	Escambia	Perry
Bullock	Greene	Pickens
Butler	Hale	Russell
Choctaw	Lowndes	Sumter
Clarke	Macon	Washington
Conecuh	Marengo	Wilcox
Dallas	Monroe

The Alabama Rural Health Association is pleased to welcome two new board members who were inducted at the 2023 Annual Conference in Hoover last month.  These two board members are Dawna Nelson, Ph.D., and Melanie Baucom, DNP, CRNP.

Dawna Nelson is an alumna of and current faculty member at Alabama State University. She is a research fellow for the Alabama Commission of Higher Education (ACHE) focused on rural healthcare workforce development. She facilitated our Rural Road show in Montgomery this past year. She brings lived experience as a member of the Black community as well as her professional experience working alongside historically marginalized communities to address health equity, which aligns with ARHA’s commitment to reduce healthcare disparities in our rural communities.

Melanie Baucom, DNP, CRNP is a family nurse practitioner who has provided primary care to rural and medically underserved patients for over ten years. She is a faculty member and leads an initiative at the UAB School of Nursing mentoring nurse practitioner students dedicated to working in rural communities, which has graduated over 100 primary care nurse practitioners prepared to provide care to rural communities across the state. She is interested in serving on the board of directors for the ARHA in order to foster partnerships and assist the organization in meeting its mission of advocating for rural health issues in Alabama.These two members replaced expired terms of longstanding board members and volunteers Amelia de los Reyes of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and Susan Campbell of Rush Health Systems in Livingston.

Dale Quinney, former ARHA Executive Director, won the National Rural Health Association’s President’s Award in 2022. Below is the announcement from NRHA in recognition of Dale’s achievements:

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As the Executive Director of the Alabama Rural Health Association for 16 years, Dale Quinney has made a difference by using data to deliver powerful messages promoting rural health. His special talent is knowing how to present data to generate the reaction that is needed to enact change.

In 2009 and again in 2013, Dale produced the Selected Health Status Indicator Reports for each of Alabama’s 67 counties. These reports presented measures on more than 90 health status indicators, comparing the county to the state and the nation on each indicator. These reports were used to identify local health issues and obtain additional information for writing more competitive grant applications. He shared the report with local papers, elected officials, and other stakeholders to showcase healthcare as an economic factor.

Dale served as the leader of a team of data specialists to develop the first Community Health Assessment for Alabama, working with the Alabama Department of Public Health and over 300 other organizations. The team determined the ten leading health issues through large surveys, and compiled them into a detailed report which had special emphasis on Alabama’s rural areas.

Dale leveraged data to save the Wedowee Hospital. Randolph County had already lost its largest hospital and the hospital in Wedowee was old and in bad condition. A large medical center in Georgia agreed to staff and furnish a new hospital in Wedowee if the county could provide 20 million to build the facility.

Dale was contacted by a member of the county commission and asked to speak at a public forum which promised to be heated. Polls indicated that the people were not going to pass a 1 cent sales tax to build the hospital since they were already paying a property tax for healthcare. At the public forum, Dale pointed out that Randolph County had the 2nd highest motor vehicle accident death rate, the 3rd highest accidental firearm death rate, and the 2nd highest stroke death rate among all 67 Alabama counties. He noted that these were situations where the victims needed to get to a hospital emergency department as soon as possible.

His remarks, along with additional information he provided to the local newspaper, were given credit for changing public opinion on the proposed tax. It was approved, receiving 84% of the vote.

His colleagues at other state rural health associations have wonderful comments about his work:

Ryan Kelly from Mississippi says, “From the first time that I met Dale Quinney, I could instantly tell that his passion for improving rural health was deeper than just a career. He lived in rural Alabama, dedicated his free time toward improving rural healthcare, and he sincerely wanted the best for all people. It is determination and dedication like this that makes a true difference in the lives and hearts of others. He has inspired me through my journey in rural health, and no doubt has done the same with so many others.”

Tina Elliot from Indiana remarked, “I’ve enjoyed meeting Dale at various National Rural Health Association events, and learn about how he is meeting the needs of rural communities through Operation Save Rural Alabama, an organization he founded. Dale speaks about materials produced in rural areas that are critical to the survival of rural communities that produce economic impacts for everyone. He shares about the lack of healthy population growth and how to meet the healthcare needs in rural Alabama. Dale talks about his involvement with establishing an Area Health Education Center program in Alabama to expand the healthcare workforce and to create opportunities for interprofessional education.”

Beth O’Connor, who as 2022 NRHA President selected Dale, added, “Concerning the state I represent, Virginia, Dale impressed on me the need to convey information to our elected officials regarding everything rural communities do to support the United States as a whole. He helped me understand how rural communities need to stop begging for resources that came from our land and start communicating how rural supports urban.”

Dale has received many accolades for his work, including the D.G. Gill Award for making an exceptional contribution to public health in Alabama, and the Ira Myers Award. This is the most prestigious public health award in Alabama and is presented to those making a significant impact on public health in Alabama. Dale is one of only two non-physicians to ever receive the Ira Myers Award.

Dale insists that his most important recognition is his family. He and his wife, Susan, have been married for 46 years. Their children Brent and Leigh, along with their spouses, are carrying on Dale’s legacy by making their own contributions to healthcare in Alabama. Dale and Susan have six grandchildren, including two sets of twins.

Addressing the rural crisis in many states and local communities requires leadership, commitment, and coordination, and Dale Quinney has offered those to rural Alabama, and rural America.2