Alabama Rural Health Association to Recognize Rural Health Champions

 

October 15, 2005                                                                            Contact: Dale E. Quinney

                                                                                                            (334) 206-5437

 

In celebration of Governor Bob Riley’s proclamation of the week of October 30 through November 5 as "Rural Health Week" in Alabama, the Alabama Rural Health Association will recognize several of Alabama’s rural health champions in a ceremony being held in the State Capitol Auditorium in Montgomery on Friday, November 4 starting at 1:30 p.m.  Everyone is invited to attend.  Reservations are not required.

 

Robert L. Gilliam, M.D. of Clayton (Barbour County) will be recognized with the Rural Health Provider Exceptional Achievement Award.  Dr. Gilliam is a product of Ohio, being born in Dayton to a hard-working, God-fearing family.  He completed medical school in three years, graduating from the Ohio State University Medical School with letters of honor in pediatrics and family medicine, and a letter of commendation in internal medicine.  He is married, has two daughters, three stepsons and two grandchildren.

 

Dr. Gilliam credits God with bringing him to work with Southeast Alabama Rural Health Associates (SARHA) in 1990 to serve as family physician in the Clayton Family Health Center in Barbour County.  He has served as Medical Director of SARHA since 1996 and is currently serving as the collaborating physician for a SARHA nurse practitioner.  He takes pride in being a working Medical Director, making house calls and seeing patients on four days of each week.  He sees over 6,000 patients per year.

 

Dr. Gilliam serves as a role model for family physicians and an advocate for rural medicine, being recognized with the Alabama Primary Healthcare Association’s Outstanding Provider Service Award in 1997.  He has a true commitment to the people and community he serves, further evidenced by his running the local volunteer ambulance service.  He lives on a large farm where he raises rare breeds of cows, pigs, sheep, horses, and ducks that are on the endangered species list.

 

Kid One Transport will be recognized with the Rural Volunteer Excellence in Service Award.  Kid One’s mission is to transport children and expectant mothers, with limited or no transportation, to medical care. Kid One would like to ultimately alleviate the transportation barrier to medical care, for all children and expectant mothers in Alabama.

 

Based on the current trip totals since founding the organization, Kid One has now provided over 90,000 rides! While this is a phenomenal accomplishment, there are additionally thousands of children in Alabama who have no viable means of transportation. The need for Kid One can be attested statewide, during 2004 alone Kid One denied over 2,000 trip requests due to lack of funding. 

 

Kid One currently has a presence in 38 counties – 32 of which are rural. Clients are referred to Kid One by anyone involved in the life of the child.  Common referrals are made by: physicians, neighbors, non-profit agencies serving children, social workers, school counselors/nurses, state agencies and family members.

 

Kid One serves children under the age of 19 and pregnant mothers in Alabama who do not have transportation to medical care. Eligible patients can request transportation to any facility that will better them mentally, physically or emotionally.  These include doctors, clinics, hospitals, dentists and counseling services.  Currently, Kid One operates with the assistance of a number of volunteers and employs 17 full-time drivers, each of these Transport Team members average 300+ miles per day, 5 days a week, servicing clients. 

 

Kid One Transport was recently recognized by Johnson and Johnson as "One of America's Most Innovative Healthcare Programs."

 

The Alabama Smoke Alarm Initiative will be recognized with the Billie Gilliland Exceptional Contribution To Rural Accident Prevention Award.  This initiative was established in 1998 because of Alabama's consistently high ranking for fire deaths and injuries.  Federal grant funding was secured to reduce fire deaths and injuries in high-risk areas. 

 

Fire departments in identified high-risk counties are invited to submit a competitive application to begin a smoke alarm initiative in their communities.  Since October 2001, fifteen local fire departments in nine counties have partnered in this initiative.  Through this initiative, volunteers conduct door-to-door visits within the fire department's service area providing home fire safety education in all homes and installing free smoke alarms in homes that need them.  Most fire departments participating in this initiative are in rural areas.

 

To date, in-home fire safety education has been provided to over 5,000 households and 3,439 smoke alarms have been installed.  Because of these efforts, there have been 43 documented instances where lives have been saved because of working smoke alarms.  This initiative is administered by the Alabama Department of Public Health in conjunction with the State Fire Marshal's Office.