Laws Wins Indiana Premier Health Achievement Award

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Category: News & Events

Created on Friday, 09 November 2012 20:55

Stephanie Laws, MSNA, Director of the Wabash Valley Rural Tele-health Network and Executive Director of the Rural Health Innovation Collaborative (RHIC) has won an Indiana Premier Health Achievement Award from the Indiana Public Health Foundation, Inc. The awards were established in 1985 with the support of Mary Fendrich Hulman, and were established to recognize outstanding professionals and organizations that have a sustained a distinguished record of dedication to improving the quality of life of individuals and to advancing the health and well-being of his or her community and the state of Indiana.

Laws was honored for excellence and exemplary leadership in creating and establishing an innovative Tele-Health Network that utilizes a secure online connection between patients in outlying rural areas at select sites that allows them to be monitored by communicating with physicians just as they would if they were in the same examining room together; for creating a blueprint for Tele-health that is being implemented across Indiana and the Midwest; for recognizing that patients in rural areas would be forced to travel several hours to get the help needed; for realizing that these citizens might not get the needed healthcare at all; for bringing quality healthcare to a population that was vastly underserved prior to the establishment of the Wabash Valley Rural Tele-Health Network; and for sharing her knowledge and expertise with other healthcare professionals and systems about implementing Tele-health services in their areas.

"We in the Union Hospital family were very proud of Stephanie's award for her development of a robust tele-medicine network, now branching into multiple states", said James Turner, D.O., Medical Director of the Richard G. Lugar Center for Rural Health. "This program has brought specialty care to those in rural, underserved communities, improving the access and overall health of these patients. The Hulman award is the most prestigious award for public health in the state of Indiana and to have our colleague receive this honor was an exciting moment for us all."

Laws has been involved in rural health issues for more than 10 years, both as a clinical provider and as coordinator of telemedicine services to west-central Indiana and east-central Illinois. She works extensively with colleagues to develop strong collaborative partnerships designed to improve the access and availability of health services in rural and medically underserved communities.