48th Annual Rural Social Work Conference

Rahul Gupta, MD, MPH, MBA, FACP, most recently served as the Chief Medical and Health Officer, Interim Chief Science Officer and Senior Vice President at March of Dimes. In his role, Dr. Gupta provided strategic oversight for March of Dimes’ domestic and global medical and public health efforts. He recently served as clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine as well as adjunct professor in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Leadership in the School of Public Health at West Virginia University and visiting faculty at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

A practicing primary care physician of 25 years, Dr. Gupta began his career in private practice in an underserved community of fewer than 2,000 residents. He has since served under two Governors as the Health Commissioner of West Virginia. As the state’s Chief Health Officer, he led the opioid crisis response efforts and launched a number of pioneering public health initiatives, including the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Birthscore program to identify high-risk infants. Dr. Gupta also led the development of the state’s Zika action plan and its preparedness efforts during the Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak.

In his confirmation speech he wrote, “As a practicing physician and former health official who has served in rural communities, I have seen firsthand the heartbreaking toll of addiction and overdose in our communities, but I have also seen how we can save lives if we understand the individuals behind the statistics and meet them where they are. As Director, I will diligently work to advance high-quality, data-driven strategies to make our communities healthier and safer.”

A national and global thought leader and a driver of innovative public policies on health issues, Dr. Gupta serves as an advisor to several organizations and task forces on local, national and international public health policy. The son of an Indian diplomat, Rahul was born in India and grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. At age 21, he completed medical school at the University of Delhi. He earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Alabama-Birmingham and a global master’s of business administration degree from the London School of Business and Finance. He is married to Dr. Seema Gupta, a physician in the Veterans Administration for over a decade. They are the proud parents of identical twin sons, Arka and Drew.

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This presentation will focus on affirmative social work practice with older adults, aged 65 and older, living in rural settings. Topics will include factors distinctive to aging in rural areas as well as issues typically associated with formalized care and support needs, including dementia, decreased mobility, and social isolation. The session will also highlight social work practices that facilitate aging in place, functional independence, social engagement, and person-centered health and wellness services. 

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Rural social work is just plain good social work, but as with all social work it must be customized to the context. The author will discuss some of the elements of rural practice that are not commonly discussed in the literature. The source is essays from a forthcoming book on rural social work practice. This will include rural clinical social work, advanced generalist social work with rural people, anti-racist, diversity, equity, and inclusion for social work in rural communities, and other topics.

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Presents findings of three novel reasons that rural Southeast natives choose to move or not move which challenge the available theories of geographic mobility. These include psychosocial development, the tension of being known versus anonymity, and the centrality of relationship. Additionally, the findings suggest that individuals share a common iterative developmental process as they negotiate different opportunities, challenges, desires, and obligations in their mobility decisions. These integrated themes of interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects of mobility elevate the importance of relationships at multiple social levels, highlight a developmental process within mobility, and personal assessments of goodness of fit within reasons to move or not move. Further, the contributions suggest that the dimension of place is important for a deeper understanding of human nature. This can positively impact the design and implementation of psychosocial interventions across multiple populations and enhance topics in social work education.

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Health care policy has a dramatic impact on everything in rural life. Dr. Mueller, director of the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI), will focus on current policies relevant to rural social work practice, such as behavioral health and substance abuse. This conference has often collaborated with RUPRI, and we are delighted to reestablish the tradition! Information about RUPRI and how we may become involved in support of common policy goals will be included.

RUPRI provides nonpartisan, research-based analysis and information on the challenges, needs, and opportunities facing rural communities. Its formation in 1990 stemmed from a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators who sought to understand the rural differential impact of public policies and programs. As such, RUPRI aims to foster public dialogue and to help policymakers understand the rural impacts of public policies and programs. Ample time for questions and discussion included.

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During the mid-late 60s the halcyon days were drawing to a close. The United States was discovering societal wrinkles like urban decay, gang organizing, an aging population, and domestic violence. So was Social Work education. The country was also rediscovering rural poverty. Social Work was not.

This was about to change.

In 1976 the 1st National Institute on Social Work in Rural Areas was held in Knoxville, TN. The Rural Social Work Caucus was formed - a loosely affiliated group of social work educators, mostly community organizers who liked each other - turned their attention to the profession.

Last Fall, remnants of the early Caucus gathered to describe what they had done, why and how. The intention is a documentary on influencing a profession, organization by rumor, and the practice of social work in rural communities. Remember that they liked each other. Despite limited progress on the film, this session will feature clips of some of the more instructive and amusing moments of this reunion.

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The meeting will provide timely updates from the leadership of the National Rural Social Work Caucus and identify opportunities for you to become more involved.

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This discussion session for and with a small group of rural social work program educators will be based on a recent article on common sense and reasoning. We recognize that social work is by and large a bureaucratic profession. It relies on the procedures, rules, and regulations of large agencies or governmental organizations. Social workers function within those constraints. But are these constraints impeding good practice? Today, the constraints of measurement (whether cost, hours spent on a case, political consequences of decisions, etc.) all impinge on social workers’ autonomy. Several questions will be discussed:

First, can rural social workers exercise good moral judgement and be truly professional? What are the major dilemmas or constraints? Examples are offered.

Secondly, are rural social work professionals autonomous? Why or why not? What are the constraints?

Lastly, can professional schools teach good judgement and enhance practice autonomy? How?

In the end, Dr. Martinez-Brawley encourages the group to identify key recommendations for education and training.

Note: This session is limited to the first 12 social work educators who register to attend.

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Ethical Dilemmas are a part of every social work practice. Child welfare is no exception. Often social workers encounter clients in grocery stores, doctor's offices, schools, and even religious activities. Issues of confidentiality, boundaries, collegial relationships, and dual relationships are a few of the issues common to rural practice. It is essential that social workers have an ethical decision-making model to help them address this situation. ETHIC, a decision-making model (Congress, 1999), allows practitioners to have a structured and documentable way of resolving ethical dilemmas encountered in the field. This presentation will present and apply that model to child welfare scenarios. 

Objectives:

1. Identify an ethical decision-making model

2. Articulate common rural ethical issues

3. Apply ethical decision-making model to child welfare practice

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What We’re Hungry For: How Food Pantries Fed Rural Wisconsin During the Pandemic is a 43-minute award-winning documentary that chronicles the response of five rural Wisconsin food pantries to the unprecedented needs of their communities during the coronavirus pandemic. This film tells the story of the hard work, ingenuity, and compassion of these organizations while also exploring the complex and longstanding challenges of fighting hunger in rural America. The documentary has been shown at seven film festivals and has been shown at communities throughout Wisconsin to stimulate discussion about hunger and food insecurity.

In this session, participants will view the documentary and then engage in a discussion about hunger and food insecurity in rural America and what can be done to combat poverty and food insecurity.

The documentary was directed by Jim Winship, MSW, PhD, a former President of the Rural Social Work Caucus. The presenter is Sharon Pomaville, director of a food pantry in rural Wisconsin and one of the food pantry directors spotlighted in the documentary.

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Among other effects, the COVID pandemic relief effort nearly eradicated child poverty in the U.S., and significantly expanded and extended Medicaid health insurance coverage. Now that relief programs have ended, childhood poverty and health inequities are making a strong comeback! The speaker will discuss national and regional trends regarding rural poverty, the rural-urban divide, and identify opportunities for involvement and improvement, including effective engagement with policymakers.

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This presentation includes a review of the problems, issues, and needs of rural HIV/AIDS clients as well as a discussion of the climate of rural Kentucky vis a vis HIV/AIDS, including the need for public education.  A discussion of existing HIV/AIDS diagnosis, treatment, case management and other related programs in rural western Kentucky and services provided to HIV/AIDS clients on site and through outreach clinics is also discussed, along with issues related to stigma and rurality that impact unmet needs. The speaker has been active in HIV/AIDS work since the 1980s and for the last 7 years has served as Chair of a regional HIV/AIDS organization in western Kentucky.

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