Deana Farmer, BA, Wake Forest University
Phone: (404) 413 - 0299
Email: dfarmer13@gsu.edu
With more than twenty years’ experience in hospitals, community collaboratives and public educational settings, Deana joined the center's Community Health Systems Development Team in 2011. The Team provides technical assistance to communities, both in Georgia and throughout the U.S., as they work to improve their healthcare systems to meet residents' needs for better healthcare access and improved health outcomes.
She brings with her experience in market research, communications planning, qualitative research, strategic planning, board development and community conversation facilitation. Her community collaborative experience includes support for communities focused on improving healthcare and family-provider communication at the end of life. In addition, she provided developmental support for the Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership, a collaborative effort between providers of healthcare, business and industry, local government, educators, and public health. The Partnership continues, benefiting from strong community support as they work to improve the overall health status while controlling costs and improving accessibility to high quality care.
Originally from Virginia, Deana’s previous experience includes physician recruitment and workplace wellness initiatives in rural southwest Virginia as well as work with a hospital system in Georgia providing wellness, assisted living, rehabilitation, and acute-care services. For five years, she was a part of Georgia Health Decisions, a non-profit, non-partisan organization working across Georgia to give public voice to the health values and views of citizens as they considered issues such as Medicaid reform, end-of-life care and health-system reform. In addition, she has served as the director of community relations for a K-12 public school district where she was involved in the development of a community partnership to support student wellness and many types of educational outreach related to illness, disease and prevention.