Meet the Team
Community Manager
Hi, I'm Beth O’Donnell and I work with the Coproduction-Laboratory at The Dartmouth Institute (TDI) for Health Policy and Clinical Practice located in Lebanon, NH (same campus at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center). I am a graduate of the TDI Masters of Public Health program where my capstone was focused on providing education and support to care partners of persons diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. I currently lead initiatives focused on the serious illness population and recently, long COVID, specifically facilitated health networks and point-of-care dashboards which includes pre-visit health questionnaires. ConnectShareCare was born out of the work of a twenty-member, multi- stakeholder team-including care partners/ caregivers, community members, clinical team members, and facilitators-who identified the top priorities, functions, and vendor platform for an online, local network.
Prior to coming to back to Dartmouth/the Upper Valley, I worked at Boston Medical Center (BMC) as a Quality Improvement Project Manager for the Department of Surgery and before that the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) as a Relationship Project Manager, managing multi-million-dollar strategic partnerships with large health systems working to transform the health and health care of their populations.
I grew up Hanover, NH. I am one of four children whose father is a retired oncologist at the VA hospital in White River Junction and former Dean at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and mother was Physical Education teacher at the local elementary school. I am a mother of two kids under six. I realized the power of peer support after attending Al-Anon to cope with my husband's alcoholism. The support worked like nothing else I had ever tried.
In my free time, which is very limited with young kids, I love to be outside and active. I enjoy connecting with others and continuous learning.
Volunteer Mentor
Hi, I'm Martha Brass and prior to moving to the Upper Valley four years ago, I had a 30-year career as a social worker and psychotherapist. During that time I worked in several different areas; community mental health, non-profit family service, hospice social work, bereavement counseling, and geriatric care management. I was the executive director of a home care agency before going out on my own as a consultant to seniors and their adult children as they navigated their healthcare and living situations during challenging times.
I have been a patient and family support volunteer and a vigil volunteer at the Jack Byrne Center since 2018.
In my free time, I enjoy exploring the Upper Valley on hikes with my husband and my grandchildren when they visit. I am an avid adventure traveler, lover of good books and jigsaw puzzles but get more joy from our 8 lb. Maltipoo who follows me wherever I go.
Volunteer Mentor
Hi, I'm Stephanie Carney and a retired elementary school teacher, yoga teacher, and a Reiki Master/practitioner. After retiring from teaching fifth and sixth graders, and over the course of more than a decade prior to the advent of Covid, I volunteered at DHMC providing Reiki treatments for patients pre-and post-surgery. Currently, I offer weekly complimentary Reiki treatments through Lyme's Community Care Organization.
Many years ago, I was active in Hospice, offering training for Hospice volunteers in Lyme, NH, and Thetford, VT. I opened and chaired a Lyme Chapter of Hospice as well. I was a primary caregiver for my mother who died in 2016 after 27 months in Hospice with end-stage COPD/emphysema, kind of a record in that area for one living that number of months with Hospice support.
I love to garden, draw, paint, hike, and spend time with my husband, our two dogs, our grown children, and four athletic grandsons. My biggest personal passion right now is sending out daily poems to an ever-growing list of subscribers in a practice I call Words That Fly.
Why and How We Moderate
At ConnectShareCare (CSC), we recognize the value of peer-to-peer sharing. Patients/ persons with illness, caregivers/ care partners, family, and friends know things — about themselves, their family members, treatments, and choices — and they want to share what they know to help others. By sharing our health experiences together, we build collective knowledge and a community of support. CSC is a private forum. CSC Moderators and our volunteers are committed to keeping the community: safe, supportive, inclusive, and useful
The Moderators monitor the messages posted by CSC community members to check for information that could be misleading or harmful. We also watch for anyone abusing the conditions outlined in the Community Guidelines and Terms of Use. We do not edit or remove messages or ban members without good reason. Views expressed in this community are solely the views of the members and do not represent the professional recommendations, policy, or advice of Dartmouth College.
The messages you post show up right away. We don’t screen them before they go live. While we monitor all posts, we rely on our members to tell us about inappropriate content or behavior. Moderating this way means that we can keep the community running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so that support is more accessible and available when you need it. If you see a post that you think is inappropriate, please report it immediately. Simply click "Report Comment" which is to the right of the post/ message ("...").
Please remember that discussion topics on CSC are public and the content can be found via internet search engines. This means the community can be found by other people in need of support and information. However, for your safety and privacy, we strongly advise you not to post personal information such as phone numbers, street addresses, email addresses, social security numbers, or any other private information. Personal information will be removed from public posts.