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2025 Conference Agenda
10/9/2025 & 10/10/2025
October 9th, 2025 - Thursday
7:00-8:00 Registration & Breakfast
7:45-8:00 Welcome
8:00-9:00 High Stakes, Safe Rides: Maternal Transport on the Range Maternal Transport 101
Bree Fallon, MSN, RNC-OB, C-EFM
9:00-10:00 Empowered and Resilient: Transforming High-Risk Obstetric Care in Maternal Health Deserts
Megan Baker, BSN, RN, SANE-A/P & Beverly Boyce, BSN, RN, RNC-OB, RNC-EFM
10:00 -10:30 BREAK - 30 minutes
10:30- 11:30 Breakout Sessions
Feeding on the Frontier: Navigating Breastmilk and Formula - Review of Ingredients and the Science of Infant Feeding (Thomas Flass, MD )
Wranglin’ NICU Knowledge - NICU/Neonatology Jeopardy (Erick Ridout, MD)
Barrels, Blood Pressure, and Babies: A Preeclampsia Case Roundup - Case Studies and Understanding the Why (Bree Fallon)
11:30-12:30 Lunch
12:30- 1:30 Breakout Sessions REPEAT
1:30-2:00 BREAK - 30 minutes
2:00-3:00 Roping in Teamwork: A Round-Up of Collaboration in the NICU/L&D - Leadership and Biology of Teams
Erick Ridout, MD
3:00-4:00 Guts, Glory, and Germs: Minding the Microbiome - How Mom's Gut Bacteria Shapes the Child's Future
Thomas Flass, MD
4:30 Movement Roundup!
Join us for a instructor-led exercise group to move your body after a great day of learning and prepare for an evening of dining, hot pool soaking, and any form for relaxation you can think of.
October 10th, 2025 - Friday
7:15-8:00 Registration & Breakfast
7:45-8:00 Welcome
8:00-9:00 Trailblazin' Through DNA: Real-World Genetics in Nursing
Dana Damron, MD
9:00-10:00 Riding Through the Rough: Staying in the Saddle When Change Bucks Hard
Erick Ridout, MD
10:00 - 10:15 BREAK/ Hotel Checkout - 15 minutes
10:15- 11:15 Breakout Sessions
Lassoing Language: Clear Communication in the EFM Arena (Bree Fallon )
The Wild Ride of Maternal-Fetal Medicine - Case Studies from an Alaskan Cowboy (Dana Damron, MD)
Tiny Riders on the Trail: Transporting Our Littlest Buckaroos - Transporting Considerations for Small Babies (Erick Ridout, MD)
11:15-12:30 Lunch
Raffle & Silent Auction
12:30-1:30 Breakout Sessions REPEATED
1:30 - 1:45 BREAK (15 minutes)
1:45-2: 45 The Hemorrhage Rodeo: Know the Stages, Ride with Control
Bree Fallon
2:45 -3:00 - Closing
Contact hours will be awarded. Billings Clinic is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
2025 Speakers
Bree Fallon, MSN, RNC-OB, C-EFM
Bree Fallon has been in the field of obstetrics for over twenty years and has had the opportunity to work in a variety of different roles. She has loved her career in obstetrics, has worked bedside in tertiary care facilities and also fetal health, clinical education, maternal transport, and provides legal case reviews. She had the privilege of sitting on the Kansas Maternal Mortality Review Committee, the AHA Scientific Advisory Panel, and serving on the Kansas AWHONN Leadership team. She has had the opportunity to present on both the local and national levels and enjoys meeting and collaborating with clinicians from across the country. Currently working as the Director of Perinatal Risk Management for BJC in the Midwest, Bree resides in Kansas City with her husband and four teenagers and enjoys reading and birdwatching.
Erick Ridout, MD
Neonatologist
Erick Ridout, M.D. is blessed to be the dad to two amazing kids, granddaddy to three extraordinary grandsons and two granddaughters, and currently serves the babies, their families, and the caregivers in the Newborn ICU in Southwestern Utah and Newborn ICU in Honolulu, Hawaii. Additionally, Colonel Ridout proudly served in the United States Army for 23 years, including 11 years as the State Surgeon, Nevada Army National Guard. He was among the first Army Medical Corps Officers to become a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and has applied the learned principles in relentlessly eliminating patient, staff, and organizational harm in all of its forms. He has lectured Nationwide on Just Culture, Harm Reduction, Value Added Care, and Servant Leadership. He passionately believes all patients and care givers deserve to experience care delivery free of harm. To that end, he seeks to influence MEDICINE to embrace the principles of servant leadership and team-based family-centered care, to send all members of the care team home each day feeling Safe, Valued and Loved returning to the bedside fully engaged with heart and mind all the while seeking to only do for the patient and never to the patient.
Thomas Flass, MD
Pediatric Gastroenterologist
Dr Flass is board certified in both Pediatrics and Pediatric Gastroenterology, and completed all his medical training at University of Colorado/Children's Hospital Colorado. Prior to medical school he received BS and MS degrees in nutrition. He has practiced Pediatric GI in Montana since 2012, first with St Vincent's in Billings, then KRMC/Logan Health in Kalispell. He recent completed training in Functional Medicine and opened Functional Medicine Associates of Montana where he practices integrative gastroenterology and pediatrics. He is the author of two books on pediatric nutrition "Feeding our Children" and a condensed guide for nutrition in pregnancy titled "Eating for Two". Dr Flass currently lives in Kalispell with his wife and 2 daughters
Dana Damron, MD
Maternal Fetal Medicine
Dana Damron currently lives and works in Anchorage, Alaska as a full-time maternal-fetal medicine physician. Prior to life in Alaska, Dana worked in Montana for 13 years as a maternal-fetal medicine physician. Before completing a fellowship in MFM, Dana worked as an OBGYN physician on the Blackfeet Reservation of Montana as part of the Indian Health Service. Dana has a strong interest in providing compassionate care to all, especially to those who are under-served or less fortunate. Dana is married to LeAnn and they share eight children and fourteen grandchildren.
Megan Baker,
BSN, RN, SANE-A/P, ANLC
Director of Women’s Services, St. John's Health, Jackson, WY
Megan is the Director of Women’s Services at St. John’s Health in Jackson, Wyoming, where she leads maternal health initiatives focused on rural care access, staff development, and system-level improvement. Her work includes developing NICU Champions, advancing Level II Maternal Level of Care designation, and implementing hospital-wide inclusivity training. With clinical and leadership experience across labor and delivery, NICU, and maternal flight transport, Megan brings a deep commitment to quality and equity in perinatal care. She is an active voice in maternal health policy and advocacy, serving on the Wyoming Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Review Committee, the Board of Maternal Mortality Prevention Work Group and AWHONN Wyoming Chapter Section Leader. She lives with her husband and two youngest sons in Thayne, Wyoming. They have five children, from middle school to college, and enjoy spending time together kayaking, fishing, and boating.
Beverly Boyce, BSN, RN, RNC-OB, RNC-EFM
OB Clinical Coordinator, St. John's Health, Jackson, WY
Beverly Boyce has worked in rural maternal health at St. John's Health in Jackson, Wyoming since 2013, where she focuses on addressing the challenges of low patient volume and high acuity through education and emergency preparedness. She became a clinical educator and coordinator to support her team’s growth and enhance patient care. Beverly’s passion for rural women’s health grew from her time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania, where she witnessed the impact of education and access on healthcare outcomes. She lives in Jackson with her husband and two daughters.
Learning Objectives
Bree Fallon
Maternal Transport 101
1. Learner will report enhanced understanding benefits of maternal transport.
2. Learner will report increase in understanding of EMTALA and how it applies to maternal transport.
Case Studies in Preeclampsia - Understanding the Why
1. Learner will report enhanced knowledge of physiologic changes in patients with preeclampsia.
2. Learner will have increase comprehension of morbidity and mortality associated with patients with preeclampsia.
Speaking the Same Language with EFM
1. Learner will have increase in knowledge related to NICHD nomenclature and definitions.
2. Participant will have enhanced knowledge in interpretation of fetal monitoring patterns as it relates to the fetal oxygen pathway.
Hemorrhage - Stage Based Approach
1. Learner will have enhanced understanding of physiologic changes during hemorrhage.
2. Learner will have increase in understanding components of stage based management of maternal hemorrhage.
Erick Ridout
Transport Considerations for Small Babies
1. Discuss the multiple interventions to consider to minimize risk of IVH.
2. Discuss the importance of establishing FRC after birth.
NICU Jeopardy
1. Identify unusual appearances of common diseases/risk factors present in mother’s record.
2. Include the findings in the mother’s medical record in hand-offs.
Teamwork: Leadership and Biology
1. Discuss the levels of leadership and how to determine their individual level with their peers.
2. Implement the Platinum rule in their interactions with those they serve in the hospital and at home.
Change - When Change is Hard
1. Strategize change efforts factoring in how caregivers are “wired” - Conscious and Unconscious Brain.
2. Understand why prior change efforts have met resistance at the rider level, elephant level, or path level.
Thomas Flass
Breastmilk and Formula - Review of Ingredients and the Science of Infant Feeding
1. Attendees will gain understanding of the primary ingredients in breast milk and formula.
2. Attendees will recognize the different types of formula and when each could be appropriate.
Minding the Microbiome - How Mom's Gut Bacteria Shapes the Child's Future
1. Attendees will learn the roles of the gut and vaginal microbiome and the impact on pregnancy.
2. Attendees will gain tools to help protect or restore the maternal/infant microbiome.
Dana Damron
Genetics
1. Update on clinical genetics in obstetrics.
2. Use of new genetic tests available in obstetrics.
Case Studies
1. Interesting and unusual case presentations in obstetrics.
2. Use of medical literature to gain understanding about case presentations.
Megan Baker & Beverly Boyce
Talk
1. Understand the unique barriers impacting rural and critical access areas.
2. Explore practical strategies to managing high-risk perinatal cases.