HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson recently announced the appointment of 11 new members to serve on the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services.
 
“The new members provide a wealth of real-world experience working on rural issues, and it’s critical that we get that kind of input on how we serve rural communities,” says Secretary Thompson. “I’m also pleased that five of the new members are national experts on rural human services issues, which is in keeping with the committee’s expanded emphasis since publication of the department’s rural task force report in 2002.”
 
Selections are:
 

• James R. Agras, CEO, Triangle Tech Group, Pittsburgh, Pa.;
• Susan Birch, nurse and business expert, Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, Inc., Steamboat Springs, Colo.;
• Bessie Freeman-Watson, director, Youth Services Isle of Wright County Office on Youth, Suffolk, Va.;
• Joseph D. Gallegos, Vice President for Planning and Development, Presbyterian Medical Services, Santa Fe, N.M.;
• Leonard Kaye, director of the University of Maine Center on Aging in Orono, Maine;
• Arlene Jaine Jackson Montgomery, professor of nursing, Hampton University, Newport News, Va.;
• Ron L. Nelson, physician assistant, president and CEO, Health Services Associates, Fremont, Mich.;
• Larry Keith Otis, mayor of Tupelo, Miss.;
• Sister Janice Otis, director, Southeast Idaho Community Action Agency Retired Senior Volunteer Program, Pocatello, Idaho;
• Heather Reed, administrator, Ohio Department of Health, Primary Care and Rural Health Program, Columbus, Ohio; and
• Tim Size, executive director, Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, Sauk City, Wis.

The 21-member committee, first charted in 1987 and currently chaired by former South Carolina Governor David Beasley, meets three times a year.  The committee advises the secretary on key issues that impact rural communities and prepares an annual report with recommendations.  In April of this year, the committee released its report on health quality issues in rural communities, called Health Care Quality: the Rural Context (http://ruralcommittee.hrsa.gov/nacpubs.htm).
  
For more information on the committee, contact the Office of Rural Health Policy  in HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration, which provides staff support to its efforts, at (301) 443-0835.