Congratulations Riya Patel, B.S., B.S., on her successful presentation at the 11th annual Kentucky Rural Telehealth Summit on October 1, 2026. Over 200 participants networked, engaged and shared their telehealth intervention projects.
Riya provided a 10-minute presentation on her project titled “Improving Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) Care and Caregiver Burden in Kentucky by Evaluating Telehealth Program Outcomes and Engagement.” With this project, she examined telehealth outreach and engagement within the Harmony Program in rural communities compared with urban counterparts, aiming to better understand the extent to which engagement differences exist.
Harmony is an occupational therapy telehealth intervention developed by CHET Primary Faculty member Elizabeth Rhodus, Ph.D., designed to educate caregivers with ADRD behavioral management strategies and is the focus of this project. Riya’s project is part of her work as a Cohort 6 Fellow of the BSC Health Disparities Research Training (HDRT) program, where she is mentored by Rhodus.
“One of the most meaningful aspects of the event was hearing perspectives from professionals across a wide range of fields and recognizing the unique challenges rural communities face, many of which may go overlooked or unrecognized...Bringing together 300 or so individuals with diverse experiences and goals created an important space for meaningful discussion about the progress already being made, the barriers that remain, and the opportunities to strengthen rural health care for our future.”
Riya is also a Cohort 3 Students Participating as Ambassadors for Research in Kentucky (SPARK) alumna, and a current CHET trainee.