New, permanent provider at hospital, clinic

OMHC is excited to announce that Kyle Anderson, FNP-C, has joined our provider team as a permanent provider! She comes from a small community in Minnesota and looks forward to bringing her 30+ years of experience to our town. She's been a nurse since 1988 and became certified as a nurse practitioner in 2018. Her lengthy career has taken her to numerous rural communities and has allowed her also to serve in urban medical centers. Her vast experience will benefit our community.

Kyle looks forward to meeting our community members and patients and to building relationships. She was attracted to Odessa Memorial Healthcare Center by the kindness shown to her and by our dedication to high-quality patient care. Her interests include reading, scuba diving and baking. She might also be persuaded to join "Sew Much Fun" at the quilt shop as she reportedly has moved here with two sewing machines. Kyle is joined here by her 10-week-old black lab puppy, Moose, and her two cats.

Kyle's future plans include teaching a class to empower our community to 'Stop the Bleed.' The class is designed to encourage bystanders to become trained and equipped with the knowledge to assist in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives.

In the immediate future, Kyle will be spending time in our various departments to learn our processes and become acquainted with our computer systems. The electronic health records can be cumbersome, and we hope to minimize any risk to patient care by training as much as possible. In the next few weeks, Kyle will begin to accept Medicare patients. Her schedule will be opened to other types of insurance as the lengthy processes to become credentialed with them are completed one by one.

As you are aware, Andjine Van Bokkelen, FNP-C, Violet Rice, FNP-C and Kristen Connelly, FNP-C have been with us on a temporary basis to serve until permanent providers could be recruited. Andjine and Kristen will be moving onto their next assignments in mid-December. They have kindly extended their time in Odessa to ensure that Kyle is properly acclimated. In December, we'll have a relief provider, Maureen Gallagher, FNP-C, over the holidays and another temporary provider, Rachel Matson, FNP-C will be coming for a long-term assignment. In January, we'll be welcoming our second permanent provider, Ruby Ayres, FNP-C. Recruitment is a long process and we are doing our best to find providers who will fit into our community for a number of years. We continue to recruit for a third provider. Having to be on call 50 percent of the time was simply too much for two providers and was also a significant impediment to recruitment. We expect that reducing the on-call demand time to 33 percent will aid our retention efforts. We deeply appreciate the patience that the people of Odessa have shown during this lengthy transition. The provider market is highly competitive on a national basis, and we are excited that both Kyle and Ruby have accepted permanent placement in Odessa.

The Agribusiness Council of Greater Spokane Inc., in partnership with the Spokane Ag Show and Hatley/Cobb Farmland Management will recognize an individual with the Excellence in Agriculture Award. The award is presented at the Spokane Ag Show in Spokane the first full week of February 2020. This prestigious award recognizes individuals and/or organizations who make a significant contribution to agriculture in the Inland Northwest.

Nominations for the award are now being accepted. Persons may nominate as many individuals, groups or organizations as they like. The nomination form, award purpose and complete criteria can be found at http://www.agshow.org. All nominations must be received by December 1.

The Excellence in Agriculture Award selection committee will consider four criteria from nominees: innovation in agriculture, economic and environmental stewardship contribution to agriculture, positive impact on agriculture and industry awareness and outreach. Nominations will be narrowed to selected finalists and announced at the Spokane Ag Show, February 4-6. The winners will be announced and presented their award at the opening session on Tuesday, February 4 at the Spokane Convention Center.

For more information regarding the Excellence in Agriculture Award and the nominating process, contact the Director, Melisa Paul at 509-321-3633 or agshow@greaterspokane.org.

The Agribusiness Council of Greater Spokane Inc. is dedicated to supporting and promoting a strong, active and viable agricultural community in the Inland Northwest. The Council promotes the public's understanding of the industry's role in the regional economy; they advocate for the industry at local, state and federal levels; and support job and investment growth in the agriculture industry.

The Spokane Ag Show is a three-day event that takes place every February in Spokane and brings together agriculture professionals from across the Northwest. The Spokane Ag Show is:

a place where ag professionals MEET to collaborate, connect and create new relationships

a variety of seminars where industry professionals LEARN valuable information from experts on industry changes, technology, and resources

a platform for the next generation of ag professionals to GROW through exposure to industry pathways

The 2019 Ag Expo brought in over 5,500 attendees, housed over 290 exhibiting companies and 2,500 exhibitor representatives, and presented 47 Farm Forum seminars.