OHA health improvement adds two staff members

Posted on: 9/12/18

Kelly Willingham

Folake Adedeji

OHA’s health improvement initiatives have added two new staff to assist members in implementation of the Hospitals Helping Patients Quit (HHPQ) program and WorkHealthy Hospitals. Both initiatives are grant programs of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET).

Kelly Willingham joined OHA in July as a health improvement initiatives specialist for HHPQ. Willingham graduated from Oklahoma State University with a bachelor’s degree in health education and promotion. She has extensive experience in tobacco cessation support services, including experience as a quit coach for the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline. Most recently, she worked on health improvement programs and tobacco cessation at the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.

Folake Adedeji joined OHA this week as a health improvement initiatives specialist working with our rural hospitals implementing both HHPQ and WorkHealthy Hospitals. Adedeji holds a doctorate in philosophy, public health, from the University of Texas, Houston; a master’s in population & development from the London School of Economics; and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Before joining OHA, she was a clinical quality improvement coordinator at OU Health Sciences Center, where she designed, implemented and evaluated quality improvement interventions in 12 primary care clinics across four counties in Oklahoma.

HHPQ partner hospitals and clinics have referred more than 28,000 patients to the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline, resulting in an estimated 21,257 years of life saved through enhanced quit rates. WorkHealthy Hospitals has touched more than 40 hospitals statewide and impacted approximately 25,000 employees in Oklahoma.  

If you are interested in either initiative, Willingham can be reached at [email protected] and Adedeji can be reached at [email protected]. They can also be reached at (405) 427-9537.