Wednesday, August 12, 2020; Las Cruces, NM: After an extensive statewide search, the Center for Health Innovation (CHI) is pleased to welcome new staff to support its medical education programs. Las Crucian Piper Coalson, GCPH, CPS, will support the newly expanding Understanding Provider Demands and Advancing Timely Evidence in New Mexico (UPDATE NM) during its upcoming statewide launch.
UPDATE NM is an academic detailing program tailored for health care providers which summarizes the mountain of cutting-edge medical research and evidence-based guidelines into useful information to improve the quality of patient care.
Currently, the program focuses on educating health care providers on chronic non-cancer pain management, with an emphasis on curtailing opioid overdoses.
Successfully piloted in southern part of the state, the New Mexico Department of Health has now supported expanding the program statewide to health care providers at no-cost.
Coalson will lend her talents to that effort by bringing her wealth of knowledge regarding opioid prevention she gleaned while working at New Mexico State University (NMSU). While there, Coalson aided in creating a tool for health care providers to access opioid resources for patients at Aggie Health and Wellness Center as part of the Wellness, Alcohol and Violence (WAVE) Rx program.
“The experience helped me better understand what challenges health care providers face,” said Coalson, UPDATE NM program specialist.
With a graduate certificate in public health from NMSU, Coalson will also use her skills to lead the Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (Project ECHO). CHI will adapt the collaborative model of medical education and care management that empowers clinicians in rural communities to provide better care to patients without leaving their communities.
CHI is adapting the model to soon launch a Project ECHO, funded by the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI). This Project ECHO will bring together a cohort of social service and public health workers to improve access to opioid use disorder services in rural communities.
Project ECHO was created by New Mexico physician Dr. Sanjeev Arora, MD, FACG, MACP, due to his experiences while working at the University of New Mexico. He saw patients sometimes go without treatment due to the long distances they had to travel to receive expert care.
“Our Project ECHO is based on keeping people the focus while addressing services for opioid use disorder in rural communities of New Mexico. The Project ECHO series will be focused on providing fundamental support and education to assist and learn from professionals in working effectively to improve access and care for individuals with an Opioid Use Disorder,” Coalson said.
CHI Program Manager, Alisha Herrick states, “Piper’s passion and experience in prevention is a great complement for our work. She also has a real understating of the issues that affect our New Mexico communities. In the short time that Piper has been with CHI, she is always willing to take on something new and to find the best resource to fix a problem. We are honored to have Piper join the CHI team!”
“Our mission on both projects is to empower professionals throughout the state to have access to new tools, best practices and enhanced methods to work with individuals with Opioid Use Disorder and to prevent it!” ” said Coalson of her new position at CHI.
For more information on UPDATE NM call (575) 597-0031 or updatenm@chi-phi.org or visit chi-phi.org.