NRHA's Rural Health Voices blog offers informed commentary on the latest news in rural health care from NRHA staff and editorials from selected contributors.
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Author:
Ken Misch
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Ken Misch, president of MEDHOST, recently had the opportunity to interview Beth O’Connor, executive director of the Virginia Rural Health Association and past president of NRHA. In this two-part series, Misch and O’Connor discuss the developing nature of rural health care, some of its most pressing challenges, and how MEDHOST collaborates with rural health systems to continue serving their needs.
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Author:
Ken Misch
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Ken Misch, president of MEDHOST, recently had the opportunity to interview Beth O’Connor, executive director of the Virginia Rural Health Association and past president of NRHA. In this two-part series, Misch and O’Connor discuss the developing nature of rural health care, some of its most pressing challenges, and how MEDHOST collaborates with rural health systems to continue serving their needs.
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Author:
Shannon Armbruster, MD, MPH
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Rural health care providers can play a critical role in addressing the unique challenges in gynecologic cancer prevention, care, and survivorship in the communities they serve. The Foundation for Women's Cancer Patient Education Committee, which is comprised of gynecologic oncology providers from across the country, recently performed a literature review focused on gynecologic cancers in rural areas. The committee’s goal was to determine the status of gynecologic cancer...
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Author:
Angela Lutz and Sarah Chughtai
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The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a mass migration away from urban centers. While the new numbers are not in yet, we already know about 1 in 5 people live in rural areas. With remote working on the rise, this number could increase in years to come. This situation emphasizes the need to ensure health equity no matter where someone lives National Rural Health Day is just one day of the year, but we need quality health care all year everywhere.
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Approximately 47 million adults 18 and older live in rural areas, along with 13.4 million children. A 2019 poll by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that one in every four people living in a rural area said they could not get the health care they needed – and this scarcity extends to lawyers, teachers, and social workers as well, with the social worker shortage likely concentrated in particular specialty fields.
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Author:
Brock Slabach
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You know better than anyone that vaccine hesitancy among rural Americans means COVID-19 will linger in rural communities for the foreseeable future – unless something more is done to increase vaccination rates. NRHA, in partnership with Legato Healthcare Marketing, has developed a grassroots initiative to help rural health stakeholders build vaccine confidence at the local level. We need rural health stakeholders to champion the initiative, inviting local business, nonprofit, and...
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Author:
Tom Dean, MD
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In the struggle against COVID-19, vaccines are our best weapon. We must continue the push to increase vaccination rates. Many people wonder if they need a vaccine if they already had COVID or if the infection itself makes them immune. These are reasonable questions – but a definite answer is not known. Here is what we do know.
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Author:
Alex T. Olson
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To reinforce the association’s dedication to health equity in the midst of the pandemic, NRHA has recently joined several national coalitions aimed at communicating vaccine safety and efficacy. HHS’ COVID-19 Community Corps aims to establish a network of trusted voices to promote vaccines. The Made to Save Coalition is a public education and grassroots effort to increase vaccine access in communities of color. And the COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project includes...
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Author:
Angela Lutz
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Each year, National Rural Health Day offers an opportunity to celebrate the power of rural by highlighting the unique health care challenges facing rural America and the many efforts underway to address those disparities. Better data is an important first step toward evidence-based interventions that consider the multiple dimensions of health – but obtaining, using, and sharing data continues to be a struggle.
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Author:
Brock Slabach
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From the outset, face covering as a measure of protection against SARS-CoV-2 virus infection seemed to brew controversy. Even today rural populations appear less compelled to wear masks and this may in part explain the rapid increase in both Covid infections and fatalities. These trends are even more disconcerting as we look ahead to the holidays with increased risk of exposure and illness.
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