1. Patient Support Services

Inside the hospital

Fellows play a critical role in supporting patients during and after their hospital stay. Through inpatient rounds with providers and independent patient interactions, Fellows assist with the social aspects of patient care by engaging in meaningful conversations, learning about patients’ backgrounds and personal stories, and providing companionship during what can often be an isolating experience. Fellows also host weekly activities for inpatients, such as arts and crafts or Bible studies, encouraging social engagement and promoting emotional well-being during recovery.

By fostering positive interactions, Fellows not only help improve the emotional well-being of patients but also encourage a more holistic approach to care, addressing both medical and social needs. This involvement helps build trust between patients and the care team, creating a supportive and comforting environment.

Outside the hospital

Fellows support patients’ transitions from hospital to home and promote adherence to discharge instructions by conducting follow-up calls and check-ins. For patients identified by Fellows or medical providers as needing additional support, they are referred to the Project Horseshoe Farm Health Partners Program. The core of this program is building strong, consistent, and caring relationships with individuals to offer them ongoing emotional and practical support. Fellows are paired with 3-4 preexisting “health partners" at the start of their Fellowship, expanding their caseload as they engage with patients at the hospital throughout the year.

In this role, Fellows provide home visits, accompany health partners to medical appointments, assist with navigating complex healthcare and social service systems, and offer health coaching and family support. Fellows also help with budgeting and finances, provide transportation, and act as a steady presence in their health partners’ lives. This consistent relationship is at the heart of the Health Partners Program, ensuring that patients not only receive the care they need but also feel supported, empowered, and connected throughout their healthcare journey.

2. Medical Education

Fellows coordinate rotations for MD/DO, PA, and NP students, scheduling them for family medicine, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and community health rotations. Fellows collaborate directly with state health professional programs to serve as a resource for student placements and ensure smooth communication between students and hospital staff. Fellows also orient students to the hospital and provide ongoing support throughout their rotation.

Fellows also direct the Hale County Hospital High School Scholars Program, which is an after-school program for high school students in Hale County who are interested in healthcare careers. Through weekly sessions, they help guide students in exploring different healthcare roles and developing essential skills in basic science, clinical care, and community health. Fellows coordinate with healthcare providers for shadowing opportunities, organize service learning experiences, and arrange college visits, all while managing communication with school and hospital faculty, parents, and students.

3. Community Outreach and Engagement

Engaging the wider community is a key aspect of the Fellowship. Fellows write the monthly employee newsletters, weekly "Hospital Corner" articles for the local newspaper, and manage the hospital’s social media presence. They also play a pivotal role in organizing the annual Main Street Community Festival, from writing grants to coordinating with local businesses. Additionally, Fellows facilitate monthly meetings between hospital leadership and community leaders to strengthen relationships and foster collaboration.

Fellows are expected to get to know and build relationships with all members of the hospital, clinics, home health, physical therapy, and administrative teams, gaining a deeper understanding of people and their roles within a community hospital.

Fellows often attend periodic weekday evening and weekend community social events, potlucks, community and civic meetings, etc.  It is important to remember that community immersion is a vital part of the Fellowship experience, and that community events are an important part of getting to know and becoming a part of the community.  Fellows also engage in third level community engagement by devoting time during their days and sometimes during weekends and evenings reaching out to and getting to know other local organizations, businesses, clubs, individuals throughout the community.

4. Hospital Administrative Support

Fellows assist hospital leadership by supporting various administrative tasks, including taking notes during leadership meetings and assisting with day-to-day hospital operations. Their work with the hospital administrator and controller provides them with valuable insights into hospital management and the operational challenges of running a healthcare facility.

5. Direct Service to Others, Including Collaboration with Community Organizations

Fellows also contribute to broader community health initiatives through their collaboration with Project Horseshoe Farm. This includes volunteering with children in the local schools and volunteering with the residents at Horseshoe Farm’s enhanced independent living housing program for women with mental illness. 

Fellows will spend time every week volunteering with students in an elementary school teacher’s classroom (“power hours”).  Fellows volunteer in the same classrooms and with the same small group of students over the course of the year so that they can build relationships with teachers and students and make progress over the course of the year.

Fellows attend monthly Saturday workdays which include cleanup and maintenance work around Horseshoe Farm and sites, or special events or work days with partner organizations. This is scheduled by the Greensboro Site Director, typically 1 Saturday per month. 

6. Mentorship, Reflection, and other Complementing Educational Activities 

Fellows will attend daily morning meetings and weekly Monday night discussions at Project Horseshoe Farm. Discussions cover assigned readings on community health, health systems, and health policy. 

Fellows will also attend “PORTCH” Friday lunch speakers and visits in the community that focus on:

• People – getting to know a range of local people and leaders in the community.

• Organizations – getting to know a range of local organizations in the community

• Relationships – build, develop, maintain, and strengthen relationships with others in the community.

• Team building – participate in team building activities to help support our effective function as a team.

• Culture/Community – learn about the local culture of the community and other aspects of the community.

• History – learn about the local history of the community.

Because Fellows engage in such a broad range of activities, it is easier to describe a typical Fellow week than a typical day.  Please keep in mind that every year is different, and each year inevitably brings new challenges and new and unexpected circumstances.

A sample weekly calendar can be found here.

• 12 hours/week volunteering with 6-8 “health partners” (building relationships and providing a consistent, caring, and supportive relationship, providing home visits, attending medical appointments with health partners, helping navigate health and social services systems, health coaching (diet, exercise, etc), support to family, help with budgeting and finances, providing some local transportation, etc.). Fellows also have regularly scheduled meetings with the Greensboro Project Horseshoe Farm Site Director to discuss their health partners and to receive ongoing teaching and supervision. 

• 1-2 hours/week calling recently discharged patients, with special attention to those who meet the criteria of being elderly and/or with high complexity (low social support, many medications, potential lack of transportation, etc.). The calls are meant to strengthen follow-up care for patients who are susceptible to readmission.

• 2-3 hours/week visiting admitted patients in the hospital, both with providers and independently. Fellows assist with the social aspects of patient care by engaging in meaningful conversations, learning about patients’ backgrounds and personal stories, and providing companionship during what can often be an isolating experience. 

• 6 hours/week volunteering with students in an elementary school teacher’s classroom (“power hours”).  Fellows volunteer in the same classrooms and with the same small group of students over the course of the year so that they can build relationships with teachers and students and make progress over the course of the year. 

• 3-4 hours/week preparing for and facilitating the Hale County Hospital High School Scholars Program.

• 1-2 hours/week preparing for and facilitating an activity for our admitted patients.

• 2-3 hours/week writing articles for the Greensboro Watchman “Hospital Corner.” This weekly article written by the Fellows is an opportunity to raise awareness about what is going on at the hospital or what initiatives the hospital supports. You can choose to write an article featuring a hospital employee, a new development at the hospital, or a relevant public health topic. 

• 8-10 hours/week in meetings with hospital leadership and completing administrative and outreach tasks, including writing posts for the social media and scheduling meetings with community leaders 

• 4-8 hours/week coordinating schedules for the rotating MD/DO, NP, and PA students, orienting new students, and meeting with the hospital’s Medical Education Director. 

• 2-3 hours/week meeting with Project Horseshoe Farm

• 4-5 hours/week preparing for and participating in Monday Discussions.

• 5 hours/week participating in PORTCH Friday Discussions

• Direct volunteer service and support to others 

  Fellows have the opportunity to learn about and deepen habits of citizenship service leadership by working closely with and providing volunteer support to their vulnerable neighbors in collaboration with local healthcare organizations,  schools and teachers, housing programs/nursing homes, and community center programs. With the support and mentorship of hospital and Horseshoe Farm leadership, Fellows gain a deeper understanding of the value of humanity and relationships in service and the important psychological, social, and community factors that contribute to health and quality of life among vulnerable people.  Furthermore, Fellows learn about how volunteering their service to vulnerable neighbors relates to leadership in a community, and how this type of leadership can strengthen communities and improve community health.

• Become immersed within a community 

  The Fellowship provides an excellent opportunity to see and begin to understand the relations of different people and processes in a community. Fellows are able to learn about and support local institutions, as well as being encouraged to visit with and get to know their local neighbors, leaders, participants, partners, and other members of the community through Horseshoe Farm’s innovative three level approach to community engagement. 

  Through these experiences Fellows should be able to appreciate diverse local values and the contributions of different members of the community. They should also learn about the important relationship between community involvement and engagement and community based service work.  Finally, they should begin to appreciate their own role, impact, and responsibilities as citizen service leaders in the context of  a local  community. 

• Gain management, operations, and leadership skills 

  Fellows gain valuable experience by learning about and being involved in many facets of the operations of a growing community hospital and its initiatives.  This includes everything from learning about budgets, finances, and strategy, to helping with new Fellow and Intern recruitment and outreach, to helping with  management and teaching of interns, to helping with fundraising and development, to helping with engagement and relationships with existing and new organizational partners and constituents, to participating in organization, upkeep, maintenance, and cleaning of facilities. Through these activities, Fellows will gain important operational, management, and leadership skills and experience that will help them more deeply understand and prepare for the leadership roles  in professional, civic, and public service realms that are involved in citizen service leadership.

• Strengthen teamwork skills 

  Teamwork is critical to almost any effective community  initiative and working with teams towards a common purpose and mission can be one of the most satisfying and rewarding experiences a person can have. 

  Fellows work very closely day to day with other Hospital and Community Health Fellows, with hospital and Horseshoe Farm leadership, and with community partners.  We are specifically looking for Fellows with strong teamwork skills and a desire to work closely in a team environment.

• Learn about community health, health systems, and health policy.

  Fellows gain real  world experience through immersion in these systems.  They also participate in weekly readings and discussions, and receive ongoing teaching to help them gain a deeper contextual understanding of these complex systems.
  

• Meet other leaders  

  Fellows have the opportunity to meet various leaders from business, government, philanthropy, healthcare, community organizations, and other sectors who regularly come to visit, who partner with, or who come speak with Hale County Hospital, Horseshoe Farm, and our Fellows.

We invite applicants from the full spectrum of majors and backgrounds who have an interest in and the potential for community-based citizen service leadership.Though academic credentials will be taken into consideration, we seek individuals who have positive personal characteristics, including the following:

• Strong relationship building, social skills, communication skills, teamwork skills

• Initiative, self directed, hard working, willingness to go above and beyond

• Flexibility, resilience, creativity, and able to take on new challenges and solve problems

• Empathic, good with a wide range of people, caring, strong service orientation

• High energy, positive attitude

• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and follow through

• Curious and eager to learn, able to receive and learn from feedback.

• Strong teaching skills and interest in teaching.

• Maturity, professionalism, high character, integrity, and judgment

• Alignment with Values and Approach of Hale County Hospital

The deadline for the 2025-26 Hospital and Healthcare Leadership Fellowship Class are due by February 15, 2025 @ 11:59 PM CST. After an initial review process of each application, qualified applicants will be contacted to schedule an initial interview with one of our current Fellows. After these interviews, a second group of applicants will be invited to schedule an interview with a member of the hospital leadership team followed by a final interview with our CEO. The selection committee will then discuss each application and notify each applicant (typically within 60 days of the application deadline in which the applicant applied) whether they will be offered a position in the Fellowship class.  If you are offered a position in the Fellowship class, to be fair to other applicants, you will have only a few days to decide whether to commit to the position. 

To be fully transparent, to try to set realistic and accurate expectations about the Fellowship, and to try to set everyone up for success, we invite and strongly encourage applicants to arrange a time during the application and selection process to speak with at least one of our current Fellows.  Fellows are happy to openly share their experiences during the Fellowship and to answer any questions you might have.  We also ask you to carefully read and understand this “Frequently Asked Questions” document.