Ariel Loring
Ariel Loring, PharmD, MPH is a pharmacist at Grundy County Memorial Hospital, a critical access hospital and a Unity Point Health affiliate. She is a 2010 University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and College of Public Health graduate. Prior to working as the pharmacist in charge in rural setting she worked as a clinical pharmacist at a larger hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Michele Evink
Dr. Michele Evink, MS, PharmD, BGCP, FASCP practices at Clarke County Hospital in Osceola, Iowa. She works there as Pharmacy Manager through a rural outreach contract with UnityPoint Des Moines

Dr. Evink obtained her Bachelor of Science in pharmacy from South Dakota State University, Master of Science in administrative studies from the University of South Dakota and a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Kansas. She is a board certified geriatric pharmacist. You’ve probably heard her cheering on the SDSU Jackrabbits, if you live anywhere in Iowa.

Through active participation in local, state and national organizations, Michele has been able to serve as a voice for rural pharmacy and rural hospitals. In 2002, she served the US Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Tommy Thompson on the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Regulatory Reform. The congressional charter for the committee was to provide regulatory reform to ease the burden of rules and regulations put forth by the agencies of the Department. Those agencies included CMS, the CDC, the NIH and the FDA. As the only pharmacist, Dr. Evink worked to improve the labeling and naming safety of drugs while streamlining the documentation needed to maximize patient care. Those improvements continue today.

Clarke County Hospital was one of the first critical access hospitals in Iowa. Its critical access status opened opportunities to improve patient care. Dr. Evink has been involved in quality efforts to improve the quality of care and access to care for patients. These have included implementation of three different electronic health records, using medication bar codes for administration, computerized provider order entry, the implementation of after-hours pharmacy coverage (including telepharmacy), Pyxis implementation with multiple upgrades and the continued expansion of pharmacist services. She chairs the hospital’s committees on Medication, Standards of Behavior and Antimicrobial Stewardship.
One of her favorite things to share with all new employees is that patients coming to a small hospital do not expect or deserve small care. She is an active proponent of rural health and in frequent contact with elected officials to ensure access and quality care is available for patients.

Adam Porter
Adam Porter is the Antimicrobial Stewardship Leader at Myrtue Medical Center  in Harlan, Iowa.  He has been a Clinical Pharmacist at Myrtue Medical for over 9 years and  helped start the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program in 2016. He works to keep physicians up to date with current guidelines through quarterly in-services and maintaining the Antimicrobial Stewardship Core Elements for Critical Access Hospitals. 

Session Description: This session will discuss antimicrobial stewardship principles and implementation strategies in the One Health era. After attending this panel, attendees will be able to identify the roles and responsibilities of the multidisciplinary team involved in antibiotic stewardship within multiple healthcare settings to improve the management of common infections, and will be able to describe how to utilize antibiotic stewardship tools to promote the appropriate use of antibiotics and improve patient outcomes.