Community Health
Symposium
About
The Path to Health Equity: Building Healthier Communities
Friday, June 21, 2024 | 8:30 am – 2:30 pm
Our 2024 Community Health Symposium brings together community members and leaders who share a common goal of improving health for all. Hear from local leaders about factors that influence health, and how organizations are working together to advance health equity for all people in Ashland, Talent, Phoenix, and beyond.
Find more information about symposium speakers and the agenda below.
Symposium Speakers
Pam Marsh
Oregon State Representative
Pam Marsh is currently serving her fourth term as State Representative for House District 5, southern Jackson County. She is Chair of the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness, and a member of house committees on Climate, Energy, and Environment; Agriculture, Land Use, Water, and Natural Resources; and Revenue.
read more
Pam’s legislative priorities include clean energy development, wildfire recovery, broadband expansion, and homelessness and housing production.
Pam’s work with wildfire survivors has reinforced her understanding of the impact of multiple factors on health outcomes, especially the availability of safe and healthy housing. Most recently, she sponsored legislation to provide funding to help our jails develop or expand medication-assisted treatment for incarcerated individuals.
read less
Peter Buckley
Southern oregon Success
Peter Buckley served for 12 years in the Oregon House of Representatives (2005-17), representing southern Jackson County. During his tenure, he served for 8 years as House Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Ways & Means, the legislature’s budget writing committee.
read more
After leaving the legislature, Peter was hired to lead Southern Oregon Success, a collaboration of all levels of education, health care, human services, public safety, and workforce development in Jackson and Josephine counties, dedicated to working across all sectors to help children, families, and communities thrive.
read less
Larry Gibbs
Southern Oregon University
Dr. Larry Gibbs is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Healthcare Administration program at Southern Oregon University.
read more
As a trained Family Demographer, Dr. Gibbs uses quantitative and demographic methodologies to investigate issues pertaining to health disparities among various populations.
Larry believes using research is important for community development and has been part of grant funding efforts to assess community health care needs in the valley since 2017. As a member of the Ashland Community Health Foundation, this gives him an even greater opportunity to serve Ashland and its environs.
On a personal note, Larry is married to his best friend, Latoya. Both are avid soccer, track and field, and basketball enthusiasts and enjoy the beach, reading, traveling, and spending quality time with family and friends.
read less
Sadie Siders
Jackson County Health & Human Services
Sadie Siders was born and raised in Medford, Oregon. She has her associates from Rogue Community College and a bachelor’s of science in public health with a focus in community health promotion and development from Portland State University.
read more
Before diving headfirst into the world of public health, Sadie worked in the medical field. She saw firsthand the individual health outcomes that came from factors like being underinsured, not having enough food to eat, access to safe and affordable housing, and gainful employment opportunities. She also saw how disjointed the American healthcare system is. It was much too difficult to get community members the care they needed in a timely, affordable, and culturally appropriate manner.
It was this experience that led Sadie to explore a career in the public health field. She wanted to work on upstream interventions, and focus on prevention, to ensure that people in her community had what they needed to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. While receiving her degree, Sadie worked with Shift Health Accelerator, mainly focusing on social determinants of health research and policy. From there, she supported the OHA’s School Based Health Center (SBHC) team as a temporary employee, researching best practices for youth physical and mental health care to help inform their revisions to SBHC state standards.
Sadie currently works for Jackson County Health and Human Services in the Public Health Division as the Health Equity Coordinator. She is also leading the Jackson and Josephine counties Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement plan, which will be completed by the end of the year.
read less
Sabrina Ballew
Mercy Flights Mobile INtegrated Healthcare
Sabrina Ballew is the driving force behind Mercy Flights’ Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) program. With over a decade of experience, she has been at the forefront of the MIH movement at Mercy Flights since its inception in 2016. She is a certified Community Paramedic and CHW and the Chair of the Oregon MIH Coalition, which advocates for MIH work throughout the state of Oregon.
read more
Sabrina’s passion for MIH is contagious. She is committed to promoting growth and collaboration within her community and beyond. Her extensive knowledge and expertise have made her a renowned voice in the MIH community, locally and internationally.
When she’s not busy revolutionizing healthcare, she loves to spend time with her family and exploring the beautiful landscapes of Southern Oregon with her dogs. She is also an avid gardener and enjoys tending to her plants in her free time.
read less
Sheila Clough
Mercy Flights
In June 2020, Sheila Clough accepted the role as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mercy Flights, Inc., headquartered in Medford, Oregon. Mercy Flights, Inc. is the first non-profit air medical transport organization in the United States and was established by George Milligan in 1949 to help transport medical patients from the Rogue Valley of Oregon to tertiary care facilities for care.
read more
Today, the organization continues to offer air medical transportation and also provides 911 emergency services for most of Jackson County as well as mobile integrated healthcare services to patients within the surrounding communities.
Prior to her current executive role, Sheila joined Asante Ashland Community Hospital as CEO on September 4, 2013 and lead the organization through a financial turnaround, integration with Asante Health system and rebuilding of the Birth Center (including development of a Midwifery program), Orthopedic program and a highly engaged team.
Sheila earned a masters of business administration for healthcare executives from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wis., and holds a bachelor of science in medical technology from the University of Minnesota.
Sheila is board certified and holds fellow status with the American College of Healthcare Executives and is actively involved with various civic and professional organizations (including Rotary, Ashland Chamber of Commerce, and Oregon State Ambulance Association for example). In 2017, she was appointed by Oregon Governor Kate Brown to serve on the Southern Oregon University (SOU) Board of Trustees. Currently, she holds the position of vice chair of the board of trustees for SOU.
She is married with two children and enjoys traveling with her family. Her family lives in Central Point and truly appreciates all Rogue Valley of Oregon and the surrounding area has to offer.
read less
Janet Holland
JACKSON CARE CONNECT
Janet Holland joined Jackson Care Connect in March of 2020. Her position as senior leadership within JCC is focused on improving health outcomes for our members through support to our provider network.
read more
Janet comes to JCC from EOCCO where she worked on integration efforts across Eastern Oregon. Janet also has an extensive background in behavioral health and as the Mental Health Director in Douglas County, her experience in Southern Oregon spans the evolution from MHOs to our current CCO structure.
Janet is a licensed clinical social worker and has obtained multiple certifications throughout her career to support efforts to improve care delivery systems to our members. Janet is thrilled to be part of the JCC/CareOregon team and the fit with her passion and core values to serve our members and community.
read less
Samantha Watson
JACKSON CARE CONNECT
For the past 16 years, Sam has worked in nonprofit health and health care, including more than a decade at OneLegacy, a nonprofit Organ Procurement Organization in Los Angeles. Her work in the field of organ, eye, and tissue donation opened her eyes to health disparities and health inequities experienced by specific populations, leading to a passion for wanting to ensure equitable access to health care for all – a human right.
read more
Upon moving to Oregon in 2019, Sam joined Jackson Care Connect (JCC), where she currently serves as the Director of Community Health Partnerships. At JCC, Sam oversees community and member engagement efforts and partnerships to promote health and equity for Medicaid members and the community, by improving access to upstream non-medical health enhancing services. Additionally, Sam holds multiple roles on committees and councils, both statewide and across Jackson County, that address social determinants of health and equity, including serving as Chair of the Board of Directors for a local nonprofit.
Sam has an M.S. in management, strategy & leadership from Michigan State University, and a B.A. in communication studies from California State University, Northridge. In her free time, Sam enjoys traveling, going to concerts and the theater, reading, doing yardwork and projects around the house, and spending time with her husband Jesse and their two boys, Parker and Landon.
read less
Brenda Johnson
La Clinica
Brenda Johnson serves as the Chief Executive Officer of La Clinica, a community and migrant healthcare organization in Southern Oregon, serving 30,000 low-income individuals each year through the provision of medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, and educational services.
read more
Brenda holds a MBA from Purdue University, a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Oregon Health Sciences University, and a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Southern Oregon University, where her time included study abroad at the Universidad de Guanajuato, GTO, Mexico.
Brenda has dedicated more than 25 years of her career to nonprofit leadership in health care and community development and has a drive toward creating equitable systems of care. She believes shared power and love creates belonging, honors dignity, and positively transforms the lives of all people.
read less
Cass Sinclair
Opportunities for Housing, Resources, & Assistance
Cass Sinclair earned a master’s in business administration (MBA) with an undergraduate degree in human communication. She served as a Cardiovascular Specialist for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and was promoted to the President’s Circle for performing in the top 1% of the sales force in the nation.
read more
Prior to that, she worked in cancer prevention for the American Cancer Society and sat on the Joint Commission on Cancer in Jackson County as a Quality-of-Life Manager, directing programs and services in five counties. Cass worked with underserved populations in Jackson County Public Health as a Community Outreach Educator and Syringe Exchange Program Coordinator in HIV and disease prevention.
In 2019, Cass was hired by Opportunities for Housing, Resources, and Assistance (OHRA), and on May 1st, 2021, Cass was promoted to Executive Director of OHRA. Cass has successfully led the organization from a $240K to a $2.6M organization in less than three years.
read less
Agenda
Support for this symposium was provided by
ACHF Education
As part of our expanded mission and strategic plan, Ashland Community Health Foundation serves to provide education opportunities to our donors and the community. As resources allow, we hope to bring events on topics like community health and wellness, population health, innovation, diversity, equity and inclusion, philanthropy and more to our local community. Educational programs are paid for through the foundation operations budget, special donor designated gifts, and sponsorships.