Preparing for the Eisenhower Experience

Starting April 26, I will formally begin my Eisenhower Fellowship by traveling to Germany (click here for an overview of the philosophy of Eisenhower Fellowships and information about the program).   I hope to learn a great deal about the German universal health system and what aspects of their experience might be applicable here, particularly within the St. Louis region. And I look forward to learning about the delivery of rural healthcare in Mexico, as well as exploring the issue of immigration from the Mexican point of view, when I visit that country in July.

I have established five goals for my Fellowship:

* Improve my capacity to run Casa de Salud to the best of my ability

* Refocus the conversation around immigration with the purpose of helping achieve the goals of the St. Louis Mosaic Project and city/county efforts to be foreign-born friendly

* Stimulate ideas around public health that could be promulgated to the City of St. Louis Board of Health (on which I serve) and incorporated by the city's health department to improve the agency’s ability to serve

* Generate concepts around Medicaid expansion/transformation that could be conveyed to key legislators and stakeholders for their consideration in the effort to find an acceptable expansion model

* Provoke thought regarding improvements to the delivery and cost of care at the local and state levels that could provide models for the further development of the Affordable Care Act

My hope is that some of you will interact with me through this blog and through Twitter (@riopedre) so that I may take your input into account as I prepare for the Fellowship and when I speak with healthcare professionals and other stakeholders in both countries.

I thank my Program Officer, Jason Riley, for his on-going help and Sabine Ganter-Richter for serving as my Program Coordinator in Germany.