Nicole Bales recently joined ORH’s Oregon Rural Health Collaborative Team to support communications and content development for the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) regional convenings. She relocated to Portland after spending the past decade on Oregon’s North Coast, and brings a unique perspective on rural and underserved health care shaped through a range of roles, from supporting fundraising at a rural Critical Access Hospital (CAH) to reporting on gaps in access and essential services as a journalist, to advancing health care workforce development through the Oregon Area Health Education Center (AHEC). These experiences continue to inform her work communicating the challenges, innovations and evolving landscape of rural health care in Oregon. Nicole looks forward to sharing the impact of RHTP across the state.