Team Investigates Health Care Education Needs of Energy-impacted Communities in Wyoming

PI Suzanne Clark

Co-PI Carol Kobulnicky

Advisor Kem Krueger

Faculty from the UW School of Pharmacy and College of Business received funding in 2009 to identify the health care education needs of energy- and mining-impacted communities in Wyoming. This grant is funded by the UW Center for Community Health and Economic Development in collaboration with the Health as Human Capital Foundation (HHCF; Cheyenne, Wyoming).

Suzanne Clark, Ph.D., R.Ph., assistant professor of pharmacology serves as PI with Co-PIs Carol J. H. Kobulnicky, Ph.D., R.Ph., associate professor of social and administrative pharmacy and David M. Hunt, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing, College of Business. All also are affiliate faculty of the UW Center for Community Health and Economic Development.

Kem Krueger, Pharm.D., Ph.D., associate professor of social and administrative pharmacy, serves as an advisor and co-author, and Pamela N. Clarke, RN; MPH, PhD; FAAN, Professor & Director Center for Community Health and Economic Development, serves as the primary advisor.

The energy and extractive industries, as well as their workers and communities, face a range of unique health risks. Due in part to this fact, Wyoming leads the nation in the rate of work-related deaths. Training to respond to these specific risks is usually beyond the scope of traditional education programs, yet energy-impacted communities often lack the means to offer their own specialized healthcare training programs. This leaves an education gap that could be filled by specialized on-line courses focused on specific industries.

This team is investigating how the CHS and College of Business can assist in this endeavor, in part by identifying industry-specific risks, as well as assessing the educational needs of stakeholders in energy- and mining-impacted Wyoming communities.

(not pictured: Co-PI David Hunt and Primary Advisor Pamela Clarke)

Posted on Saturday, October 03, 2009