CSRHA Welcomes New Members to the CSRHA Baord

CSRHA members from across the state gathered in Sacramento for CSRHA's annual meeting of the membership on June 19th aboard the Delta King Hotel.  The luncheon brought together a diverse group of rural stakeholders for networking and educational opportunities.

At the meeting, CSRHA was pleased to welcome five new members and two re-elected members to the CSRHA Board of Directors for the 2010-2011 term. This year’s election was an exciting one, as there was a race for representation in each regional seat- a first in several years! Membership voting also turned out to be at a higher volume than in past years. All of the candidates were highly qualified and represented essential components of rural health. The elected Board members are as follows:

• Statewide seat- Gail Nickerson of Adventist Health;
• Northern Region- Dave Jones of Mountain Valleys Health Centers
  and Jonathon Andrus of Fairchild Medical Center;
• Central Region- Lee Barron with Southern Inyo Healthcare District
  and Eric Villegas of Health Net of California;
• Southern Region- Christine Dodd of Clinica Sierra Vista
  and Earl Ferguson of Ridgecrest Regional Hospital.

These elected individuals bring a diverse set of background experiences and leadership qualities to CSRHA, and we are thrilled to have them on the CSRHA Board of Directors.

The luncheon also included three speakers, whose enthusiastic presentations received much appreciation and positive feedback. CSRHA is happy to announce that their first-hand accounts on improving community conditions through research, programs and coalitions are now available for download:

• Chris Kelsch M.A., M.P.H., Executive Director, Winters Healthcare
  Improving health Outcomes Through a Multi-tiered Nutrition Program: The power of working in small communities, click here [ppt 7.64 mb]
  
• Sheila Steinberg, Ph.D, California Center for Rural Policy, Humboldt State University, People, Place and Health: A Sociospatial Perspective of Agricultural Workers and their Environment, click here [ppt 20 mb]
  
• Eric Fimbres, Community Health Alliance, Maggie Kraft, Humboldt Senior Resource Center, Inc., Eating the Elephant One Bite at A Time, click here [ppt 1.24 mb]

Exiting board members were also honored at the Annual Luncheon for their on-going service on CSRHA committees and long-standing commitment to rural health in California. Nancy Banuelos, Mario Gutierrez, Hermann Spetzler, and Sheilamarie Racicot were recognized for their dedication to CSRHA.  In addition, Desiree Rose, CSRHA’s Executive Director shared with the group the achievements of the association over the past year with the membership. That presentation can be downloaded here [ppt 16 mb].

The quarterly Board of Director’s meeting and Rural Technology Advisory Committee (RTAC) meeting were held prior to the annual luncheon.

Thank you to all our members throughout the state for their support and hard-work!

*Please note that some of the PowerPoint presentations are large file sizes.