I left Durham, NC (GSK) on 12/24/09 and ended up in Alpine, CA on 1/3/2010. I decided to make an adventure out of getting to my PULSE assignment. So, I spent my year-end-shut down driving across the most Southern part of the USA (along route I-10 for most of it with a detour in Arizona). I was joined by my mom who decided she wanted an adventure, too. (More about that trip in a future post).
I started with Mountain Health and Community Services (MHCS) on 1/4/2010. The nonprofit connected to MHCS is Direct Relief International. DRI is the NGO that many PULSE volunteers have assignments connected to. Each of our assignments are very different. My day to day is not in direct contact with DRI. Mine is working directly for MHCS on a specific project.
MHCS is community health clinic system comprised of 5 sites (3 rural in Campo, Jacumba and Alpine, CA and two urban in Escondido and San Diego, CA). The HQ is in Campo, CA. My work space is out of the Alpine location where there are others in some administrative offices, including all of the folks I work with directly on these projects. I am assisting MHCS with designing a comprehensive HIT plan as well as assisting them with the implementation of several HIT projects that are just getting underway. Most notably are an Electronic Practice Management system (this will be implemented while I am here) and Electronic Health Records system (I will assist them with the implementation plan for this which will happen after I leave). There are some telemedicine initiatives as well (some of these will be implemented while I am here).
In the photos there is GSK of course (Ellis Road entrance on the RTP Campus!!!!). The photo with the stucco building is the Jacumba site (High Desert Family Medicine) and the other photo is the Campo site (Mountain Empire Family Medicine) and that is the HQ for MHCS. I don't have a pic yet of the site where my space is in Alpine. It looks more urban but is still considered rural.
MHCS is a sweet organization where everyone has one focus. The patient. Does it serve the patient? If not we are not doing it. Everyone knows their mission and sticks to it. It's kind of simple. The complex part is how to keep the shop running when relying on grants and support from donations, etc. More about that in future posts. The organization is quite successful at that and has grown over roughly 30 years from just the one site to the five they have now.
More about MHCS at http://www.mtnhealth.org/index.html