Rural health leaders unite

Skyline Health CEO Matt Kollman furnished the idea for the retreat years ago, envisioning an annual gathering during Rural Health Month (November). “Nobody knew where it was going, if it would be successful or if there would be any interest,” Kollman said. “Yet here we are with a second year, with a bunch of really smart people committed to a healthy rural community.”

Before guests dove into the event’s itinerary, White Salmon Mayor Marla Keethler issued a proclamation. She declared the third Thursday of November as Rural Health Day in the city, further recognizing Better Together as an essential regional collaboration to be held annually. “Better Together reflects our city’s commitment to a healthier, more resilient future for every person who calls the Gorge home,” Keethler said.

Individuals from 18 different organizations attended the forum, up from 14 last year. In a roundtable icebreaker, each participant introduced themselves and shared one way their organization is helping the community thrive.

Next, during an interactive exercise, attendees walked down “success alley” — a row of posters featuring three pre-submitted organizational success stories from the past year. For each success, participants could place a “kudos” sticker, highlighting achievements that excited them, or a “tell me more” sticker, identifying entries they’re eager to learn more about.

Afterward, a roundtable debrief, where volunteers shared what stood out or surprised them during the activity.

“I was surprised by the breadth and diversity of successes,” said Nichole Peppers, executive director of Southwest Washington Accountable Community of Health (SWACH).

Sustainability was a key theme: many were impresssed by overall maintainance of programs and staff despite industry-wide turnover trends. Others recognized the significant number of successes in behavioral and mental health, mirroring community needs.

Paul Lindberg, project coordinator at K-LINK, had a positive emotional response to the exercise. “The idea that organizations are moving forward, hiring, expanding and running successful campaigns in this particular climate is a nice reminder that not everything has hit the fan,” Lindberg said. “There’s still great work being done. We’re not giving up.”

The room then repeated the activity, replacing success stories with strategic goals. This time, they placed “potential partner” stickers beside each entry, evaluating which organizations could make apt brainstorm or project partners.

A familiar maxim in the healthcare industry, “no margin-no mission,” was a common priority among submitted strategic goals — achieving financial stability is crucial for organizational continuity. There’s a shared need for cross-organizational collaboration, strategic partnerships and advocacy, primarily to address volatility in state funding.

“Elected officials don’t understand rural healthcare very well,” Kollman said. “We need to help educate those who are decision makers to understand what it’s like in the community and what’s helpful.”

Speakers noted that protecting the progress made so far should be a collective concern, especially as funding cuts and erosion of federal support loom.

Catherine encouraged participants to consider concrete commitments their organizations can make to support both funding and sustained progress, ideally through more collective, proactive support for one another.

Later, after dividing into randomly chosen small group discussion circles to respond to “tell me more” sticker placements, the group engaged in a one-on-one, Q&A-style activity. Each duo had two minutes to converse before rotating to another partner — “the learning version of speed dating,” Catherine joked.

To conclude the event, Catherine asked participants to make a pair of commitments: to gather again next November in the spirit of Rural Health Month and to share something they learned back within their organization.