Twenty-one University of Alabama at Birmingham Honors College students embarked on an eye-opening journey of discovery in the healthcare environment of rural Alabama with the “Honors Serves: Leadership in Action – Rural Healthcare Innovation Summit.” The one-day event included insightful learning opportunities, service to the community, and exposure to healthcare innovators and leaders. From learning the leadership strategies of nonprofit organizations to addressing real-world healthcare problems in a case competition, the experience was both inspiring and educational.
Honors Serves: A key to learning outside of the classroom
The UAB Honors College offers honors students opportunities to learn and apply their knowledge and skills in real-world situations through collaborative partnerships with members of the community and across campus. Honors Serves initiatives focus on service, outreach, and leadership building that contribute to the public good and the betterment of their communities and world.
One of the Honors Serves pillars includes the “Honors Serves: Leadership in Action” series that offers honors students a combined experience of networking and community engagement. These opportunities provide students with the first-hand experience to learn from businesses in the community and apply those skills in their everyday lives.
The “Honors Serves: Leadership in Action – Rural Healthcare Innovation Summit” allowed honors students to gain insight about healthcare systems from leaders with backgrounds in medicine, business, law, art, technology, and the non-profit service sector. Honors students from all disciplines were invited to attend the event to visit various medical facilities in Alexander City, AL including Children’s Harbor and Russell Medical Center.
“We aim to provide an immersive experience that our honors students can incorporate into their learning and training and, ultimately, draw on for their future careers,” said Shannon L. Blanton, Ph.D., dean of the UAB Honors College. “I am proud of our unique and transformative opportunities, such as the Rural Healthcare Innovation Summit, that continue to push the needle forward to broaden the horizons for our students to grow personally and professionally and expand upon their interests and goals.”
Children's Harbor: A snapshot of nonprofit healthcare careers 
Honors students learned management skills from the perspective of a nonprofit healthcare organization at the Children’s Harbor, which is located on 66 acres of land along the shores of Lake Martin. The retreat facility serves as a refuge for families of critically ill children to reunite and find comfort during challenging circumstances.
After students were educated about the organization’s rich history from Cat Outzen, chief executive officer, and Vicki Tuggle, chief operating officer, they experienced first-hand the emotional support that goes beyond medical care, and the importance of family-focused care in healthcare by volunteering. They created personalized encouragement cards and assembled goodie bags for over 100 children and families that were present for camp.
“To learn how Children’s Harbor cares for patients and their families on a more supportive role rather than clinical was interesting,” said Italy Wilson, a junior in the UAB Honors College. “It's something that I believe is important to overall care because it takes some stress from the children and lets them experience typical childhood activities.”
Russell Medical Center: Addressing rural health issues
The Russell Medical Center taught honors students how rural hospitals provide quality healthcare despite limiting resources and navigating the distinct needs of rural communities through a panel conversation from Jim Peace, chief executive officer; Matt Fisher, chief financial officer; and Mabry Cook, director of outreach. They also discussed how the organization contributes to filling gaps in healthcare for underprivileged populations by focusing on enhancing patient access, reducing rural health issues, and building capacity of local healthcare facilities. The UAB Honors College collaborated with DeWayne Bailey, director of UAB Health System’s Alabama Rural Health Collaborative, who was instrumental in making the connection with Russell Medical Center.
“The information I learned was extremely valuable,” honors student Wilson said. “Russell Medical is the first rural hospital I've ever been in, so it was interesting to see how they handle the weight of being a primary resource of care for the targeted population.”
Inaugural Healthcare Case Competition: Providing solutions for rural communities 
For the first time in Honors Serves history, honors students participated in a Healthcare Case Competition where they were divided into groups and tasked with designing an in-depth strategy to address rural community special healthcare needs. Strategies included regional data on Medicaid coverage, transportation inequalities, healthcare facility capacity, demographics of the patient population, and local health indicators.
Each team collaborated to develop creative solutions for improving healthcare access, efficiency, and the quality of care for rural communities. They presented their innovative case studies and concepts to a panel of judges that included A.J. Jarman, UAB alumnus and director of patient access services and data analytics at Russell Medical Center; and Steven Howard, Ph.D., Honors Faculty Fellow, associate professor, and director of the executive master’s in healthcare administration at UAB. The judges ranked the top three teams with the strongest and most plausible solutions.
“The opportunity to learn directly from executives at organizations like Children's Harbor and Russell Medical provided our students with invaluable insights into the leadership and strategy behind healthcare delivery in rural Alabama communities,” said Undré V. Phillips, Ph.D., program manager II for honors student leadership and engagement. “It's essential for future leaders to understand the unique challenges these areas face and how to address them. The combination of service, exposure, and problem-solving through the Healthcare Case Competition offered a comprehensive experience that is truly unique to the UAB Honors College, equipping our students with the skills to create meaningful change after graduation.”
