Nebraska Models and Innovations

Women to Women Online Support Network
Updated/reviewed November 2020

Need: Women living in rural areas with chronic illness often face little social support, leading to increased rates of depression and stress
Intervention: Women to Women offered rural women with chronic conditions social support networks via telecommunication
Results: WTW intervention participants experienced positive increases in self-esteem, social support, and empowerment over the control group

Pharmacists for Patient Safety Network
Updated/reviewed September 2022

Need: Pharmacists in rural Nebraska are often isolated and find it difficult to communicate with others about safety concerns.
Intervention: The Pharmacists for Patient Safety Network was a communication network in which pharmacists identified safety concerns and shared solutions.
Results: After one year of implementation, 30 of the 38 participating pharmacies reported that the network encouraged new safety practices and reinforced existing safety strategies.

Farm Dinner Theater
Updated/reviewed August 2022

Need: To encourage farmers to make health and safety changes on their farms.
Intervention: Farm Dinner Theater is an event in which farmers and their families watch three 10-minute plays covering health and safety topics and then discuss solutions to the issues addressed in each.
Results: In a study, farmers who attended the plays were more likely to make changes and tell others what they learned, compared to farmers who received an educational packet with the same information.

SD eResidential Facilities Healthcare Services Access Project
Updated/reviewed August 2020

Need: To increase local health services to rural elderly populations in long-term care facilities located in four Midwest states near a tertiary care organization.
Intervention: A non-profit healthcare organization implemented telehealth services to provide acute care evaluations for long-term residents in their home facilities.
Results: The program increased local care as evidenced by improved year-over-year provider-determined available transfer data: 33%, 50%, 63% program years 1 through 3, respectively. From the success of the initial pilot implementation, the program has further matured into a long-term care offering that now reaches many other rural facilities located in 10 states across the nation.

Jana's Campaign: Love Doesn't Hurt
Updated/reviewed February 2023

Need: Prevention and education programs for schools to reduce gender and relationship violence among teenagers.
Intervention: Jana's Campaign offers school-based trainings, presentations, projects, and consultations through Love Doesn't Hurt: Teen Gender Violence and Prevention Program.
Results: So far, 648 middle and high schools and more than 86,280 students in Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, and Oklahoma have benefited from the program.

Frontier Area Rural Mental Health Camp and Mentorship Program (FARM CAMP)
Updated/reviewed September 2022

Need: To reduce the shortage of behavioral health professionals in rural Nebraska.
Intervention: A week-long camp teaches high school students in rural and tribal communities about different career options in behavioral health and provides mentorship after the camp ends.
Results: In 2022, 10 high school students participated in the camp, and a former camper returned to present on their work in a psychology lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Boone County Health Center Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program
Updated/reviewed June 2022

Need: Evidenced-based intervention to improve function and quality of life for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other chronic lower respiratory conditions.
Intervention: Pulmonary rehabilitation program implementation in 1989.
Results: Compared to a national average of only about 3% of referred Medicare beneficiaries actually enrolling in pulmonary rehabilitation, 60% of the program's referred patients enroll. Averaging around 15 patients/year completing the program, a large combined cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation maintenance population averages 8,000 visits/year.

Catalysts for Community Health
Updated/reviewed June 2022

Need: To help low-income and rural community members access health information at their libraries.
Intervention: C4CH pilot-tested an interdisciplinary program of study designed to train Master of Library and Information Science students to become health information resources for underserved communities.
Results: The cohort of 10 students is graduating in summer 2022.

Avera LIGHT
Updated/reviewed March 2021

Need: Assistance for urban and rural physicians — as well as other healthcare providers — who are experiencing burnout and other issues associated with well-being.
Intervention: As part of its provider well-being focus in its rural and urban facilities, Avera Health system has created a program which attends to physician wellness issues starting with recruitment with continued support through retirement.
Results: With increasing engagement due to word of mouth, the program creates a culture of wellness where stigma is decreased and providers are encouraged to be proactive in reaching out for assistance for issues related to their personal and professional well-being.

Sowing the Seeds of Hope
Updated/reviewed November 2020

Need: Agriculture workers and their families have high rates of psychological distress and suicide, but limited access to mental health services.
Intervention: The "Sowing the Seeds of Hope" (SSoH) program was created to provide affordable and culturally appropriate mental health services to individuals working in agriculture and their families in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Results: The regional program ran from 1999-2014 and successfully established a variety of interventions to help individuals in rural communities access behavioral health services.

Evidence-Based Examples