HJAR Jan/Feb 2021

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  JAN / FEB 2021 57 Mellie Boagni Bridewell Chief Executive Officer Arkansas Rural Health Partnership Training (adult, youth and teen) needs to be a priority for our teachers, healthcare pro- viders, students and emergency responders and can now be provided through distance learning. Education and bringing awareness to the signs and symptoms of mental health is especially important during this pandemic when many are experiencing isolation and depression. Until we can educate and re- cruit more behavioral health providers to our rural areas, our clinics and hospitals can work with each other and our state partners to provide these resources through educa- tion and support for our local providers and patients. At the end of the day, I strongly believe that the heart of rural healthcare transfor- mation begins and ends in rural; with some help fromour friends, change is always pos- sible. n Mellie Boagni Bridewell currently serves as a re- gional director in the UAMS Office of Strategy, Management and Administration and as the CEO of the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership (ARHP). Mellie created the Arkansas Rural Health Partner- ship organization in 2007, which began with five critical access hospitals and has grown to 14 ru- ral hospitals and two Federally Qualified Health Centers spanning the South Arkansas region. 4. Rural first responders and rural hospi- tal ED staff with limited experience in providing care to a patient presenting in a mental health crisis; 5. Prevention programs spread sparsely over large rural geographic areas; 6. Stigma – patients avoiding care due to what their friends or neighbors will think if they see them enter the doors of a mental health department or thera- pist’s office. Many rural communities experience the strain or impact of poor mental health and a weak healthcare infrastructure that seem- ingly cannot provide the types of special- ized mental and behavioral health services that individuals need. The ability to pool resources together to provide specialized mental health services via telemedicine is a game changer for rural communities in the SouthArkansas Delta and beyond. This en- ables rural hospitals to provide the same or similar mental health services that are more common in urban settings, keeping services in the local setting while also assisting rural hospitals to keep their doors open. Through mental health services – either physical or via telehealth – provided in the clinical setting of rural clinics, community health centers and school-based clinics as well as through education efforts such as Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), the pre- vention and early detection of mental and behavioral health conditions can have a sig- nificant impact on the individual’s health, finances, relationships and outlook on life. Early intervention of mental health resourc- es and services helps decrease concerns from escalating to emergent crisis situa- tions, which supports the individual and the healthcare systems that serve those in need. Through such initiatives, rural com- munities across the nation can experience improved mental health outcomes as well as a decreased strain on emergency depart- ment and hospital services often bogged down by emergent mental health problems. While we must continue to fight for more inpatient treatment facilities to be placed in rural communities to support the needs of rural folks and eliminate barriers to care, we must continue to turn toward each other and our partners throughout the state. Providing education such as Mental Health First Aid “The ability to pool resources together to provide specialized mental health services via telemedicine is a game changer for rural communities in the South Arkansas Delta and beyond.”