Principals and Associates

Dr. Loretta Schlachta-Fairchild is a nurse, healthcare administrator and international expert in telehealth, telemedicine and telenursing. She is CEO of iTelehealth Inc. (www.itelehealthinc.com ), providing telehealth expertise for telemedicine training and implementing in non-hospital settings. She was COO of Strategic Monitored Services, Inc. a Disease Management company using home telehealth technology to deliver care to chronically ill patients. Dr. Schlachta-Fairchild served as Clinical Director of Telemedicine for the U.S.Department of Defense Telemedicine Testbed providing clinical consultation and project management for multi-state telemedicine applications. She was Principal Investigator & Project Director for the U.S. Army for Electronic Housecall, a home telemedicine system development and research study and Principal Investigator for The 2000 U.S. Telenursing Role Study, a web-based study of nurses’ roles in telemedicine in the U.S. Dr Schlachta-Fairchild was a Collaborator and Cosponsor of the2004 International Telenursing Survey of over 700 telenurses from 30 countries. Dr. Schlachta-Fairchild is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and is a CoFounder of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth Telenursing Working Group, as well as CoFounder and Past Chairperson of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) Telenursing Special Interest Group.

Vicky Elfrink, Ph.D, RN, BC, a Senior Associate with iTeleHealth, Inc., is well-known in the healthcare community for her visionary work as Project Manager of the Nightingale Tracker, a computerized nursing education information system that is currently used in more than 40 U.S. nursing schools. Dr. Elfrink co-designed, produced, and appeared in 15 nursing education videotape projects with live microwave distance education broadcasts in conjunction with the Summit/Portage County Regional Area Health Education Consortium (AHEC) and the Northeast Ohio University College of Medicine.

An expert in Informatics and Classification Systems for EHR’s, Dr. Elfrink has conducted quantitative and qualitative research to determine market need of such programs. She has published refereed articles and book chapters on various IT topics and has written research technology, R&D articles for HealthNet (quarterly publication) in addition to conducting over 30 national and international presentations on information technology in healthcare. Also, Dr. Elfrink has been actively involved in the development and use of standardized nursing vocabularies and has designed and co-produced video tapes promoting its use.

Dr. Elfrink earned her undergraduate (BSN) degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and both, her Masters of Science in Mental Health Nursing and her PhD. in Education Curriculum and Instruction from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Her other educational achievements include ANCC certification in Nursing Informatics and a post-Masters certificate in Nursing Systems Administration from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She was an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio as well as Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.
Honored for her excellence in research and education, Dr. Elfrink received the Circle of Excellence award from the Lambda Omega Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society, and the Outstanding Research in Curriculum and Instruction Award from Kent State University. Her other professional affiliations include the American Nurses Association, Ohio Nurses Association, and the American Medical Informatics Association.

Dr Elfrink holds a Certificate in Distance Learning Education from Thomas Edison University.

Ms. Sharp is focused on educating health professionals on telecommunications technologies available for professional continuing education, consumer education and clinical applications in TeleHealth and e-health. Ms. Sharp is well acquainted in the nursing association world. As President of the American Nephrology Nurses Association, and Director of Practice and Legislation for the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses, she has developed grassroots advocacy programs for nurses in these two specialty groups. From 1993-1997, she served as Executive Vice President of the American College of Nurse Practitioners – a coalition-model organization for state and national nurse practitioner organizations involved in public policy. A prolific writer and speaker, Ms. Sharp has written over 150 articles for nursing journals and made over 200 presentations to nursing audiences across the country.

She is author and publisher of five editions of The Nurse’s Directory of Capitol Connections: Positions and Opportunities in Health Policy Development. Ms. Sharp received her BSN at Augustana College, Rock Island, IL and her MSN from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Ms. Sharp currently holds adjunct faculty and clinical lecturer status at University of Miami, Miami, FL, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore and George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.

Elizabeth Buckley, BSN, RN, CNOR serves as Director of Technical Development, iTeleHealth, Inc. Ms. Buckley is a Nurse Programmer, Systems Developer and a Desktop Publishing Expert. Certified in Client/Server Software Development, Ms. Buckley has expertise in database design, development, and SQL. She has been active in the research development of an electronic patient record on the Internet, as a researcher and a speaker on the topic. With a focus on Visual Basic, Ms. Buckley has expertise in Structured Systems Analysis, Crystal Reports, and Windows NT architecture.

Ms. Buckley has utilized her technical documentation skills as the Assistant to the Project Manager of a telehealth-based Disease Management company. In this position, she facilitated the design, development, and implementation of a web-enabled disease management clinical information system in addition to designing and publishing the multi-disciplinary clinical and patient handbooks for the project.

As a Certified Operating Room Nurse, Ms. Buckley has worked in the operating room since 1973. She earned her Bachelors Degree in Nursing from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, and is currently completing her dual Bachelors of Science Degree in Information Technologies and Business Administration.

Jessica Stacharowski has begun her international career having had 7 years experience both serving abroad and collaborating domestically with immigrant communities. While accomplishing her dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Anthropology, Jessica was selected to participate in study-abroad program in Peru, where she gained fluency in Spanish and researched the Quechua peoples. She was awarded the Richard H. Ouderkirk Award for demonstrated achievement in cross-cultural relationships. In 2002, she volunteered at the Mayor’s Hispanic Liaison’s Office in Baltimore Maryland to provide an ongoing community based activities relating to Health & Sanitation, Education, Business Development, Health, Home Buying, and other city services.

After graduation, in 2004, from Principia College, Jessica served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. In Morocco Jessica was trained to Instruct English to non-native speakers, and to guide the sustainable development process within communities.
During Jessica’s 2 years and 3 month service in Morocco, from 2004-2006, she acquired advanced fluency in Moroccan Arabic, instructed youth and adults in English as a Foreign Language (EFL), facilitated competency building workshops for women in the areas of health, business, and teacher training. She was awarded grant funds from USAID to build and restore a family park.

In 2007, Jessica joined the iTeleHealth team, when she co-authored and built a comprehensive English Training Program for our contract with Zain Iraq Mobile Telecom Company. The English Training Program comprises of Business English and General English courses. In January 2008, Jessica departed for Baghdad, Iraq to administer the program, and currently is assigned there.

Ms. Stacharowski is currently completing her Master’s Degree in Organizational Management with a focus in Global Business.

Lisa Drewry is the Financial Manager of iTelehealth Inc. She holds a BS degree in Business and Economics with a concentration in Finance. She has over 17 years of work experience in government accounting, financial control/analysis, accounting and cost proposal preparation. As the financial manager at iTeleHealth Inc., Lisa established and automated the accounting system using QuickBooks software. She also developed and established the indirect rates used for government contracts. Lisa prepares the indirect cost proposals for review and approval of the company’s rates.This in turn is followed by negotiation of final indirect rates. She has also performed these activities for other small businesses that have entered into the government contracting arena.

Lori Hoffman, BS, MS, serves as an Associate. Ms. Hoffman comes to iTeleHealth with over ten years of experience within the healthcare cost containment industry. As a Senior Management staff member, Ms. Hoffman worked closely with company officers to create two cost containment companies. In that capacity, she served as Director of Client Services. Responsibilities included implementing and managing system integration, HIPAA compliance, workflow process, and client implementation. She worked with patients, providers and insurance companies to insure accurate and timely billing practices.
Ms. Hoffman earned her Bachelors Degree in Consumer Studies from Hood College, and her Masters Degree in Housing, Interior Design, and Resource Management from Virginia Tech.