Amanda McDermott, Rochalla Jones and Courtney Thomas are shown outside the Dorchester SCOT office located in Shore Regional Health at Cambridge.
CAMBRIDGE, Md. (September 9, 2024) – University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH), a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System, has established a new Shore Community Outreach Team (SCOT) to advance health care access and support for Dorchester County residents.
Following the model that has served residents of Kent and northern Queen Anne’s counties since 2021, members of the Shore Community Outreach Team – Dorchester will visit trusted community sites throughout the county, including places of worship, residential care facilities, firehouses, senior centers, health fairs and community events, and other social centers. SCOT also will serve Dorchester patients and families in their home settings. Services offered include: Home safety inspections, assistance with filling out advance directives, blood pressure checks and health screenings, case management for those with chronic illnesses (diabetes, heart failure, COPD, etc.), wellness activities and arrangement of telehealth consults with health care providers.
In Kent County, SCOT activities have yielded impressive results. During 2023, the team enrolled 115 patients and conducted 920 home. After six months, 75 patients identified as “high utilizers” realized an average decrease in health care charges of $5,919 per patient.
“We’ve seen that taking health care information and support out into the community, meeting patients ‘where they are’ with free health care screenings, information, guidance and support, helps them manage their health conditions and achieve a better quality of life,” said Jess Denny, Interim Director of Population Health for UM SRH. “We are excited to get Dorchester’s Shore Community Outreach Team up and running, and to start providing these important health care services in Cambridge and other locations throughout the county.”
The SCOT – Dorchester staff now includes a nurse coordinator and two community health advocates. A search for a social worker is in progress.
Rochalla Jones, BSN, RN, has been named Nurse Coordinator of SCOT – Dorchester. A resident of Hudson, Md., Jones has been with UM SRH for more than decade, most recently serving as Nurse Navigator in the Cancer Center. Previously she spent several years working with patients in University of Maryland Shore Medical Group practices, and in Same Day Surgery and inpatient care. Jones earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from American Public University, and her Associate of Science degree from Chesapeake College’s Macqueen Gibbs Willis School of Nursing.
Courtney Thomas, of Cambridge, Md., and Amanda McDermott, of Trappe, Md., have joined SCOT-Dorchester as Community Health Advocates.
Thomas most recently worked for the Eastern Shore Area Higher Education Center in Cambridge, first as a Community Health Worker and then as Special Initiatives Program Coordinator. Previously she served the Talbot County Health Department as a Medical Scribe. A graduate of North Dorchester High School in Hurlock, Md., Thomas is a state-licensed Community Health Worker, and holds certifications in Youth Mental Health First Aid and Strengthening Families Program Group Leader Training Facilitation.
McDermott’s experience includes more than 13 years in emergency health care services, serving as a Paramedic in Talbot County and an Emergency Medical Technician in Dorchester County 3). Also a graduate of North Dorchester High School, McDermott has served as an adjunct faculty member in Chesapeake College’s paramedic course, and is certified in critical incident stress management.
To learn more, request services or make a referral, contact Jones, 443-225-7545 or DorchesterShoreCommunityOutreach@umm.edu.
About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health
A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. UM SRH consists of approximately 2,000 team members, including more than 600 health care providers on the Medical Staff, who work with community partners to advance the values that are foundational to our mission: Compassion, Discovery, Excellence, Diversity and Integrity. For more information, visit https://www.umms.org/shore.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
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