Wendy has provided treatment services since 1991, when she started working in correctional facilities. In 1994 she started working at Washakie Mental Health (which transitioned to Cloud Peak Counseling Center, and is now Oxbow Center-Worland), and provided treatment services to the Wyoming Boys’ School. She was the first therapist at the Boys’ School and provided mental health and treatment services there until 2018. She transitioned to providing mental health services in the community and gradually transitioned to being the Substance Abuse Program Coordinator. She facilitated that program for approximately five years, when she transitioned to strictly providing telehealth services. She currently provides substance abuse groups eight times a week, and domestic violence/batterer intervention group twice a week, as well as individual treatment and assessments.
Candice is currently the Maternal and Child Health State Nurse Consultant for Public Health Nursing located within the Wyoming Department of Health. As the State Nurse Consultant, one of her primary roles is serving as program manager for the Wyoming Hand in Hand Home Visitation program. She is a Wyoming native and has been a nurse for almost 18 years. She graduated from Casper College in 2006 with her associate’s degree in Nursing. She slowly continued through her education and graduated with her master’s degree in nurse leadership from the University of Wyoming the winter of 2020. All of her work experience has revolved around mothers and babies. She spent 1 year in a special needs pediatric unit, 5 years in obstetrics (specifically labor and delivery), and the past 12 years in public health nursing.
Essie McCall is the Vice President of Behavioral Health at Volunteers of America Northern Rockies (VOANR). She has a lot of experience utilizing telehealth to provide clinical services for clients to improve their mental health.
Amy Surdam is the Chief Operations Officer at InstaClinic, which is a virtual care company that specializes in the delivery of remote healthcare. She is a telehealth advocate and expert in remote patient monitoring (RPM). Read the full article to learn more about what RPM is, how it is used, and Amy’s personal experiences with its implementation.
Briane became an RN in 2013 and began working in a rural Wyoming community mental health center (as well as in the county jail). Part of her job was to facilitate telehealth visits between local
patients and remote psychiatric prescribers. During the 7 years in that role, she was fortunate to work with 5 brilliant psychiatric nurse practitioners and one delightful psychiatrist; all but one were located outside the state of Wyoming. Telepsychiatry was all we knew, and the various challenges we faced demanded creative solutions. Through these hurdles, my professional resilience and resourcefulness in the face of limitations crystallized. I have immense hope that I will be able to improve access to psychiatric care in WY through telehealth.
This month, the Wyoming Telehealth Consortium is welcoming Dr. Paul Johnson to his new role as the Medicaid Medical Director for the state of Wyoming. A longtime champion of telehealth and former Wyoming Medical Society president, Dr. Johnson has been appointed as the chairperson for the Wyoming Telehealth Consortium and will be leading our work into the future. He grew up in Laramie, Wyoming and graduated from Laramie High School in 1995. He enjoys all aspects of general ENT, and has particular interest in pediatric ENT, allergy, sinus surgery and thyroid surgery. His outside interests include travel, running, playing hockey, watching college sports and spending time with his wife and daughters. Learn more about his journey with telehealth in this month’s provider spotlight.
Philip Eskew, DO, JD, MBA began his telehealth journey as part of his medical residency program. As his time in the field has grown, he learned that telehealth is a way to reach patients when travel or in-person care is difficult to deliver. Through his work providing healthcare to prisons, he quickly learned that telehealth is a lifesaving tool for any provider. Dr. Eskew is leading the way in providing prisoners with the ethical healthcare they need by utilizing telehealth as a tool for delivery in a system where barriers to care are prevalent. Learn more about him in this month’s spotlight.
Carissa Lane, Wyoming Native, knows a thing or two about telehealth. She also has some perspective on being licensed in multiple states. The question on everyone’s mind is how do we bring our Wyoming native providers back home? Telehealth may be part of the answer.
Carissa Lane grew up in Cheyenne, WY and completed her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology & Health Promotion through the University of Wyoming. She then went on to complete her Doctoral degree in Physical Therapy from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ with honors in 2017. Carissa initially entered the PT field practicing in the inpatient rehabilitation setting, but soon transitioned into various settings including outpatient neuro, outpatient ortho, neuro wellness, and home health. She now works part time in a telehealth musculoskeletal physical therapy company and owns her own virtual wellness coaching business, Carissa Lane Wellness, specializing in burnout prevention/recovery, stress management, and holistic health for healthcare professionals. In 2022, she obtained her Integrative Nutrition Health Coaching certification and continues to prioritize lifestyle medicine with all of her patients and clients. Carissa now lives in St. Augustine, FL with her significant other and two dogs.
She is currently a licensed physical therapist in multiple states (FL, TX, PA, NY, NJ) providing musculoskeletal care to individuals who might not have access to these services otherwise, and treats health coaching clients all over the United States. While Carissa no longer lives in Wyoming, she continues to have deep connections to the state and communities, and is looking to expand her reach to help individuals in need of high quality care and support.
Dr. Jessica Poulin grew up in a rural setting outside the town of Hebron, Indiana. She and her husband, Allan, opened the first maternal fetal medicine practice organic to the state of Wyoming (Critical Perinatal Solutions) in 2022. Jessica provides clinical care and Allan runs the business. She has extensive experience caring for complex fetal patients and expectant women with high risk pregnancies. She has authored numerous research articles in peer-reviewed journals and teaches medical students from the University of Wyoming (WWAMI). When not seeing patients, Jessica enjoys spending time with her husband and their four children at their home in Laramie, cooking, traveling, and exercising.
Lacy is a Licensed Professional Counselor who has her own private practice in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She has nine years of counseling experience, and believes in a collaborative, holistic, strengths-based approach to therapy. Lacy is skilled in utilizing different therapeutic modalities to help meet the needs of her clients healing trauma, facing stress/anxiety, and walking through changes in life.
