Episode Transcript
Alan Helgeson:
“Reimagining Rural Health,” a podcast series brought to you by Sanford Health. In this series, we explore the challenges facing health care systems across the country from improving access to equitable care, building a sustainable workforce, and discovering innovative ways to deliver high-quality, low-cost services in rural and underserved populations. Each episode examines how Sanford Health and other health systems are advancing care for the unique communities they serve.
In this episode, Courtney Collen with Sanford Health News talks with Toni Thomas, chief experience officer and industry advisor, Microsoft. She joins an expert panel at the 2023 Summit on the Future of Rural Health Care with the topic: how can we work smarter, not harder?
Courtney Collen (Host):
I have Toni Thomas here in Sioux Falls from Cleveland, Ohio. Toni, welcome to Sioux Falls and welcome to the podcast.
Toni Thomas:
Thank you. It’s my second trip into Sioux Falls, and as I said at the welcome dinner last night, I have a crush on Sanford ever since coming here the first time and on Sioux Falls.
Courtney Collen (Host):
Well, we are happy to hear that, and we are even happier to have you here and grateful for your time. Toni, what are the top three opportunities you see when it comes to building a stronger rural health care workforce?
Toni Thomas:
Yeah, the first opportunity I think really lives inside the organization and making sure the organization is communicating out to the population that there is a need to address the workforce crisis, that there is one, and how that would impact them or their families in the future. So helping them understand the scope of the problem.
The other opportunity I think that exists with especially a health system like Sanford is the power to be able to help the rural population skill and scale up. So before we can get them into a pipeline where they can be formally educated in the health care professions or the helping professions, we need to take skilling out to the community and also integrate themselves into the public school system, the private school system, and certainly the secondary education system.
Courtney Collen (Host):
Your panel discussion answered the question, how can we work smarter, not harder? I want to throw that question in here as well, Toni. How do we work smarter?
Toni Thomas:
Yeah. So I’m going to take it back to the foundation of what it is I do every day. And that foundation is really around organizing your data and understanding the scope of the problem because we really, truly have to tear down or – my manager likes to say – unlearn what we know about our problems. And that’s a phrase that I’ve adopted. So to do that, we really need to have data that’s accessible and available and then to be able to analyze it, to understand the scope of the problem and how do we work together towards solving that problem?
Courtney Collen (Host):
Where have we made progress when it comes to health care workforce issues? Where does work remain? And how will this shape strategy and policy moving forward?
Toni Thomas:
Right. I really do think that it is a multidisciplinary collaborative effort, and it’s not lost on me that right at this very moment, we’re sitting in a room full of people that have joined together from health care, medicine, nursing, technology, public policy, and government to talk about really hard things and how to fix those things.
And I think the biggest thing that we can do coming out of today, it’s easy to talk, but then we have to take action. So that’s really important. And I’ve been involved in a lot of meetings over the years, summits and panels. But this one is unique. It’s small, but not too small, and it has powerful thought leaders that can lean into the problem.
Courtney Collen (Host):
If you could share one piece of advice with a new clinician or physician entering the workforce today, what would that be?
Toni Thomas:
Wow. That’s a really hard question. I would say that if you’re following your heart and you really want to be in a helping profession, don’t be daunted by the problems that the workforce is facing today. Because there are people, like people in this room, who are really trying to fix that.
There are people that care and that your family, your friends and your neighbors are going to be dependent on people who want to join the health care workforce and take care of the people in the communities where they live. I think that’s so important. It’s like, let’s just get back to the basics and understand that we’re trying to solve these problems and we need people.
Courtney Collen (Host):
That’s great advice. Thank you for that. What excites you most about the future of rural health care?
Toni Thomas:
Yeah. I talked a little bit earlier today about my moonshot and what is my, you know, vision for like health care of the future? And for me it’s really about understanding and knowing the people that are living in your communities and the populations that you’re serving, understanding what their struggles are, understanding how they want to receive health care, where they want to and when they need to receive health care. So just really understanding your populations and being able to increase the access to health care for them in that way.
Courtney Collen (Host):
Toni Thomas, thank you so much for your time and for being here for this event.
Toni Thomas:
Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.
Alan Helgeson:
You’ve been listening to “Reimagining Rural Health,” a podcast series brought to you by Sanford Health. Hear more episodes in this series or other Sanford Health series on Apple, Spotify, and news.sanfordhealth.org.
Learn more about this topic
- Help wanted: Health care workers in rural America
- What does it mean to future-proof our workforce?
- Solving worker shortages in nursing homes
Get more episodes in this series
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Posted In Leadership in Health Care, News, Rural Health, Virtual Care
