Foundation for a Healthy Ky. adds 28 new members to its Community Advisory Council, most from Friedell Committee

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has added 28 new members to its Community Advisory Council, bringing its total up to 49.

Of the new members, 27 were formerly members of the Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation, which united with the foundation in December.

The Community Advisory Council advises the foundation's board of directors on overall policy and strategic direction. Members also serve as liaisons with Kentucky communities, putting the council at the center of a strategy shared by both the foundation and the Friedell Committee to expand community engagement statewide.

LeChrista Finn, an associate professor at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, is the newly named chair of the council. The new vice chair is Tim Marcum, regional director of planning at Baptist Health in Louisville. Both have served on the council since 2014.

"Council members, new and existing, are among the most mission-minded health- and health-policy advocates in the Commonwealth of Kentucky," Finn said. "I am grateful that members of the Friedell Committee have stepped up, once again, to work toward a healthier Kentucky."

The 28 new council members are: Constance Alexander, Murray, writer, consultant, and civic journalist; Charlotte Beason, Louisville, retired executive director of the Kentucky Board of Nursing; Dennis Chaney, Bowling Green, Barren River District Health Department director; Tracey Clark, Hopkinsville, executive director of the Jennie Stuart Health Foundation; Danny Duncan Collum of Shelby County, a writer and professor at Kentucky State; Al Cross, Frankfort, journalist and University of Kentucky professor and director of its Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of Kentucky Health News; Colette Crown, Lexington, former administrative coordinator for the Friedell Committee; Barbara Hadley-Smith, Frankfort, retired government and private sector communications executive; Ann Hagan-Grigsby, Louisville, chief executive officer of the Park DuValle Community Health Center, Inc.; Richard Heine, Lexington, former executive director of the Friedell Committee; the Rev. Nancy Jo Kemper, Lexington, retired executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches; Rev. Terry Lester, London, retired pastor at First Baptist London; Sylvia Lovely, Lexington, president of, Sylvia Lovely & Associates and former executive director of the Kentucky League of Cities; Kathryn Mershon, Louisville, independent hospital and health care professional; Dr. J.D. Miller, Lexington; retired Appalachian Regional Healthcare executive; M. Raynor Mullins, Lexington, emeritus faculty, dental public health, University of Kentucky; Judy Myers, Lexington; faculty member at Indiana University Southeast School of Nursing; Mark Neikirk, Highland Heights, executive director of the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement at Northern Kentucky University; Marty Newell, Whitesburg, chief operating officer, Center for Rural Strategies; John Rosenberg, Prestonsburg, director emeritus of Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky and vice chair of the Kentucky Public Advocacy Commission; Sheila Schuster, Louisville, executive director of the Advocacy Action Network; Dr. Doug Scutchfield, Lexington, emeritus professor at UK College of Public Health; Rich Seckel, Lexington, executive director of the Kentucky Equal Justice Center; Susan Stokes, Louisville, owner Access Community Assistance and former state representative; Lisa Tobe, Louisville, executive director of Wildflower Consulting; Tom Walton, Louisville, executive in residence, University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences; Dr. Pat Withrow, Paducah, cardiologist and director of outreach at Baptist Health Paducah (the only new Council member who did not come from the Friedell Committee); Charlotte Whittaker, Hartford, president of AARP Kentucky and former executive director, Ohio County Senior Services.

These members join Finn, Marcum and the following existing Council members: Nancy Addington, Elizabethtown, retired director of the Area Agency on Aging at the Lincoln Trail Area Development District; Tracey R. Antle, Russell Springs, chief operating officer of Cumberland Family Medical Center; Angela Carman, Berea, assistant professor in the UK College of Public Health; Roger Crittenden, Frankfort, retired circuit and district court judge; Sandra Duverge, Louisville, Health Equity Program Manager at Passport Health Plan; Fran Feltner, Hazard, director of the UKCenter of Excellence in Rural Health; Deborah S. Fillman, Owensboro, retired director of the Green River District Health Department; Liz Durst Fowler, Lexington, president and CEO of Hospice of the Bluegrass; Amanda Goldman, Lexington, system director of quality and wellness for Catholic Health Initiatives and director of diabetes and nutrition care at KentuckyOne Health; Randy Gooch, Nicholasville, director of the Jessamine County Health Department; Laura Hancock Jones, Morganfield, dentist at Union County Family Dental; Michael Keck, Science Hill, vice president at Five Talents Financial Group; Keith Knapp, LaGrange, associate professor at Bellarmine University; Sherry Lanham, Beattyville, director of the Lee County Family Resource Center; Matthew Minier, Louisville, director of student success at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Wynn Radford, Hopkinsville, retired insurance agent; Robert Slaton, Georgetown, health-care consultant; Melissa Slone, Hazard, research interdisciplinary director for the UK Center of Excellence in Rural Health ; and Johnny White, Russellville, organizational development manager at Constellium.