Shown at the MRHA Awards presentation are Lara Wilson, Director of Rural Health Care Transformation at UM Shore Regional Health; UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown SCOT team members Michele Matthews, Amanda Webster ,Emily Welsh and Serenity Kelly; and Zack Royston, Vice President, Rural Health Care Transformation at UM Shore Regional Health and Executive Director, UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown.
The University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Chestertown’s Shore Community Outreach Team (SCOT) is being honored by the Maryland Rural Health Association (MRHA) as recipients of its 2024 Outstanding Rural Health Program Award.
SCOT team members Emily Welsh, MSN, RN, Nurse Coordinator, Social Worker Michelle Matthews, LCSW, and community health advocates Serenity Kelly, CCHW, and Amanda Webster, CCHW, received the award at MRHA’s annual awards ceremony.
Nominated by Lara Wilson, Director of Rural Health Care Transformation at University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH), the outreach team was selected for the award based on their outstanding work in providing effective, community-oriented rural health care delivery and excelling in their service to rural communities. UM SRH is a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS).
Focusing on the underserved and vulnerable populations in Kent and northern Queen Anne’s counties, the mission of SCOT is to improve the community’s health by collaborating with local partners to bring health care access and support services to residents in their homes and community settings. In Fiscal Year 2024, SCOT served 90 people through community case management, provided a total of 304 health blood pressure and diabetes (A1c) screenings at sites throughout Kent and northern Queen Anne’s counties, conducted 679 home visits and connected dozens of patients to primary care, mental health services and medication reconciliation support.
“I am continually blown away by the reach this team has achieved within our communities and the incredible impact they are making for our residents,” said Wilson, who was on hand to present the award. “They are an amazing resource for our vulnerable populations, and their ongoing collaboration with local government entities, nonprofit and civic groups promises to advance their reach even further.”
SCOT also developed a number of creative initiatives to assist local residents in need of support services. These include a raised gardens program, block parties at senior communities and the African-American Health Advisory Committee, which they helped launch to offer health education events geared to the concerns of the local Black community.
“I am very fortunate to have such a dedicated and passionate team,” Welsh said in accepting the award on behalf of the SCOT members. “This award motivates us to continue our vision to be a leader in excellent patient care and the transformation access to health care in rural communities. We will use this recognition to strengthen our program further, expand our reach and improve the health and well-being of even more people.”
About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health
A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. UM SRH consists of approximately 2,000 team members, including more than 600 health care providers on the Medical Staff, who work with community partners to advance the values that are foundational to our mission: Compassion, Discovery, Excellence, Diversity and Integrity. For more information, visit https://www.umms.org/shore.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
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