If you are an eligible clinician at an approved State Loan Repayment site, begin your application now. The cycle will close in April.

The Northwest’s largest conference on rural health always strives to stay abreast of current policy and regulatory developments at the federal, regional, state and local levels which impact healthcare delivery. Join colleagues from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska to share strategies and cutting edge ideas, discuss innovations and out-of-the-box ideas, and share success stories. The one-day CAH conference is designed specifically for CAH administrators, staff, clinicians, and board members. Experts present on the federal update, ACO impact on CAHs, out migration of patient care, board leadership, mental health and telemedicine, and more.

The Pierce County Nurses Association has applications available for their nursing scholarships. Three different awards are available to residents of Pierce County. The deadline to apply is March 31, 2012.

Governor Gregoire has asked state agencies to dig even deeper and look for additional ways to cut expenses. The 10 percent budget cuts proposed by DOH include a $297,000 reduction to Area Health Education Centers/Rural Health Capacity. Most of this reduction is realized by the elimination of the Volunteer/Retired Provider Malpractice Insurance Program. If these cuts are included in the budget proposal, this means that effective January 1, 2012, the VRP program will no longer exist and no-cost malpractice insurance will no longer be available for volunteer healthcare providers.

The University of Washington is offering two evidence-based wound management courses targeted towards nurses in urban, rural, medically-underserved, and health professional shortage areas in the Pacific Northwest. The Wound Management Fundamentals Course involves 30 contact hours delivered through a combination of distance learning and classroom instruction. The Fundamentals Course will be offered April 2-May 19, 2012 and again in the summer, Aug. 20-Sept. 22, 2012.

AmeriCorps member Patricia Egwuatu is the new Youth Health Service Corps Coordinator at WWAHEC. Youth Health Service Corps is program that works to provide high school students with service-learning opportunities in the health field. Students are given opportunities to connect with health professionals and other students across America and western Washington interested in health professions, while gaining valuable experience that will strengthen their résumés.

Health boards, commissions, and committees need citizen participation.

The Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program (R/UOP) is in its 22nd year of the program and the Western Washington Area Health Education Center (WWAHEC) placed 22 University of Washington medical students around western Washington this summer.

By John Geyer, UW Medical School Student

Most residents at the Rainier School are elderly with a wide range of communication capabilities and mobility skill. Many patients are unable to communicate their experience of pain or discomfort. To make sure these residents are not suffering and simply unable to verbalize their distress, it is up to the medical team to carefully observe patients for any symptoms of physical illness. Here the “medical home” model seems very beneficial to patients.

The staff of the Western Washington Area Health Education Center is happy to announce the launch of our new and improved website. We worked in conjunction with Rhodes Communications and Desktop Creations to create a dynamic and easy-to-navigate site with information about all of our programs and services.