ACCERT Community Partners

Angie Bailey, MPH, MSEd, CHES, is the Director of Community Health in the SIH Community Benefits (CB) department at Southern Illinois Healthcare (www.sih.net), a non-profit hospital system in southern Illinois. SIH includes four hospitals, 25+ outpatient provider offices, and the SIH Cancer Institute. Angie provides coordination and leadership as she and CB staff work together with community partners and SIH staff to develop and implement the SIH Community Health Needs Assessment implementation plan, while addressing health equity in Southern Illinois. Angie serves as the co-chair of the Southern Illinois Cancer Action Network. She is a member of the Healthy Southern Illinois Delta Network. HSIDN is a 16-county collaboration made up of many partners and agencies throughout southern Illinois that are working together to improve health in southern Illinois. More information can be found at (www.hsidn.org).

Yvonne M. Buhlinger, MSW, CHCEF, is Executive Vice President of the Affinia Healthcare Foundation and Vice President of Development and Community Relations for Affinia Healthcare. Ms. Buhlinger joined Affinia Healthcare in 1996 as Coordinator of Managed Care, promoted to Director of Managed Care within six months. In 2004 her responsibilities expanded to include implementation of a $15 million lead remediation and prevention project and promoted to Managing Director of Community Health and Managed Care. In 2012 she became Vice President of Community Health Services. In 2015 assumed the role of Vice President of Development and Community Relations. In 2018 accepted the additional role of Executive Vice President, launching the Affinia Healthcare Foundation. Ms. Buhlinger holds a B.S. in Psychology and a Masters of Social Work, both from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Fellowship in Community Health Center Executive Management from Kansas University Medical Center.

Sawiyyah Chanay is the Education Director and Community Health Outreach Specialist for the University of Missouri Extension. Ms. Chanay is a public health practitioner and community health educator with more than 20 years’ experience in the field. Sawiyyah has helped to establish community-based programs that are culturally relevant to rural and under-resourced populations. Since joining the University of Missouri Extension, Sawiyyah has provided leadership to several federally funded grant projects as Principal Investigator.

Maggie Grotefendt is the Associate Director for State Partnerships with the American Cancer Society (ACS) in St. Louis. Maggie has been with the ACS for 13 years and works closely with under-resourced communities in both Missouri and Kansas. She collaborates with health partners to promote health equity and ACS programs and services, delivering evidence-based strategies through quality improvement projects designed to have a broad population impact on reducing cancer incidence and decreasing mortality rates. Maggie is currently the Chair of the Missouri Colorectal Cancer Roundtable and is on the Executive Committee of the Missouri Cancer Consortium, where she supports numerous cancer initiatives.

Graduate of John A Logan LPN class of 2000, he lends his talents with Information Technology and Nursing background to help others. His marketing expertise, computers and networking ability has helped expand the reach of small business owners into the region.
Terance is currently serving as the IT Director for the City of Marion, Illinois for the last 13yrs. He has been a recipient of numerous awards and international recognition for the development of their City App to GIS project at the Marion Cemetery. Henry is a graduate of the Executive Academy of the Delta Leadership Institute, as part of the Delta Regional Authority. He lends his time and talents to a variety of community-based organizations that focus on positive youth development. He serves or has served on the board of directors of serveral organizations and has been recognized for his extensive commitment to the community as a recipient of numerous awards.

I am a CRFT Alum of Cohort VII. I graduated from the Community Research Fellows Training in 2023. This accomplishment created a plethora of opportunities not only for myself but for my community. It also created a bridge to connect rural and urban communities. It has allowed me to provide service but also have access to resources and knowledge.

Community Education Partner with over thirty years of experience in developing, designing and implementing school-based programs and operational policies. Active community liaison very passionate about solution focused work around SDOH and the impact of healthcare disparities.

Emily Kalmer is the Missouri Government Relations Director for the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), where she advocates for public policies that leaders at all levels of government can take to end cancer as we know it, for everyone. Emily received her J.D. from Washington University School of Law and is a member of the Missouri Bar. She joined ACS CAN in 2018 after more than twelve years of experience working in state and local government.