will help lead the Florida Blue Center for Rural Health Research and Policy to a new level of achievement, positioning it to influence legislation in Florida and across the country that improves the health of our rural communities.”
Professor Heather Flynn, Ph. D., chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, is excited to have Spring rebooting the Florida Blue Center. It was initially created in 2002 through a gift from the Florida Blue Foundation, Florida Blue Cross Blue Shield’ s philanthropic arm.
“ Bonnie really brings a multi-faceted and fresh vision for the center and its future that incorporates innovations in digital health research, as well as training the next generation of researchers,” Flynn said.“ She ' s already had several meetings with Florida Blue to understand their vision, the things that they care
about in terms of rolling out health improvement interventions to the community, so there ' ll be some strong alignment with Florida Blue.”
Spring has been successful in integrating different digital health tools and technology – such as wearables, apps and electronic medical records – with telehealth coaching to deal with multiple-risk behaviors. These behaviors include tobacco use, lack of exercise, poor nutrition and mental health-related issues. She has applied those interventions in previous research to prevent cancer recurrence and mitigate outcomes from diabetes.
“ With Bonnie using integrated digital health technology to help people with multiple risk behaviors and chronic health conditions in rural areas,” Flynn said,“ the sky ' s the limit.”
Students arrive at the Jefferson County Health Department in Monticello, the first stop of the day. The facility provides a wide array of services for a county that has just one full-time family physician and no specialists.
Farm Manager Dale Aldridge, from Florida Georgia Citrus, discusses the satsuma farm that produces juice, jellies and much more. The facility’ s packing plant was one of the stops on the RuLE Trip and included a panel discussion and tabling from Jefferson County health care providers.
College of Medicine students had an opportunity to stroll the streets of Monticello, visiting the county seat’ s coffee shop and stores. The Jefferson County Courthouse in the background sits in the center of town.
20 FSUMED | MED. FSU. EDU