{"id":20744,"date":"2017-09-08T14:57:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T21:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.ewu.edu\/stories\/?p=20200"},"modified":"2019-05-21T21:08:35","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T21:08:35","slug":"building-community-partnerships-for-health-services","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/chsph\/news\/building-community-partnerships-for-health-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Building partnerships for health services"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two programs in the College of Health Science and Public Health have built a community partnership with Excelsior Youth Center to help EWU students learn while helping the organization in return.<\/p>\n

CHSPH\u2019s undergraduate health services administration (HSA) program and graduate occupational therapy (OT) program have formed a partnership with Excelsior, a school and specialty medical clinic that serves a diverse group of young individuals, many of whom may have experienced a form of trauma in their early life.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcelsior is a really innovative health care provider. I think we\u2019re moving into an age where we\u2019re increasing integration of service into traditional mode of care \u2013 mental health, addiction studies and environment for example,\u201d said Anna Tresidder, PhD and assistant professor of HSA. \u201cThey\u2019re taking into consideration the broad definition of health and I think it\u2019s great exposure for our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

HSA students conducted eight research projects last spring focusing on different aspects of Excelsior, including data collection on staff retention rates, community-based surveys and analyzing incident reports. Students in one group that conducted a billing analysis found roughly $67,000 in unbilled services over the course of two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to help [Excelsior] with some of those administrative gaps and knowledge gaps to assist their organization because they have so many different things they do,\u201d Tresidder said. \u201cThey\u2019re in the trenches \u2013 working day to day, providing services to kids, working with law enforcement. It\u2019s hard for their staff to take a moment, step back, and look at data collected to identify trends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Excelsior247\"
Students from EWU’s health services administration program presented at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research in Memphis, Tennessee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Due to the success of their projects, two students presented their Excelsior research at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in Memphis, Tennessee. This is the first time students from the HSA program attended the conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students face real challenges head on, especially with a service provider that\u2019s as complex as Excelsior. They get a really good feel for the complexity of health care delivery \u2013 it\u2019s not just, you deliver a service, you get paid for it, you move on,\u201d Tresidder said. \u201cThey learn about the different components that provide the supports and barriers in a very complex administration system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, six students in EWU\u2019s OT program conducted research for their capstone requirement and fulfilled their fieldwork experience at Excelsior last spring. EWU students collaborated with teachers to create plans for students, gathered information to create sensory rooms and learned about organizational barriers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t give those experiences to them in the classroom,\u201d said Donna Mann, OTD, associate dean of CHSPH and associate professor of OT. \u201cYou have to be out in the world to have those experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

OT students have successfully identified ways in which Excelsior can make changes to better benefit its students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re able to improve student learning experiences. A flip side of that is Excelsior is having a positive experience because they\u2019re already realizing the benefits of having an occupational therapist in their school identify ways for them to make changes and take different approaches in other environments,\u201d Mann said.<\/p>\n

The partnership between Excelsior and CHSPH was sparked by Dean Laureen O\u2019Hanlon, PhD, in an attempt to identify how the college can become more involved in the community while creating student opportunities for learning. The success of the partnership has led to Tresidder, Mann and Ryan Kiely, vice president and program operations at Excelsior, conducting a two-hour workshop and presentation at the National American Occupational Therapy Conference in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re sharing this on the national stage. It is an innovative learning experience,\u201d Tresidder said. \u201cThere\u2019s potential for this to evolve into something meaningful for students in the long run. Ryan, Donna and I are really invested. We\u2019re always figuring out how to make things work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Mann and Tresidder attribute the success of the partnership to consistent teamwork and dedication between CHSPH and Excelsior.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo really dedicate resources and continuously find ways to work together creates an investment that both organizations value,\u201d Tresidder said. \u201cThe outcomes are good \u2013 the students benefit and the organizations benefit. We stay aware of making sure that the benefits are felt on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two programs in the College of Health Science and Public Health have built a community partnership with Excelsior Youth Center to help EWU students learn while helping the organization in return. CHSPH\u2019s undergraduate health services administration (HSA) program and graduate occupational therapy (OT) program have formed a partnership with Excelsior, a school and specialty medical…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":73498,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-20744","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-clinics-partnerships"],"acf":{"subheading":"","featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"display_byline":true},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/chsph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/20744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/chsph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/chsph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/chsph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/chsph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/20744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77165,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/chsph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/20744\/revisions\/77165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/chsph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/chsph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}