Rural Project Examples Addressing Health occupations

Structured Training for Rural Enhancement of Community Health in Obstetrics (STRETCH-OB)

Updated/reviewed June 2025

Need: To improve maternal and birth outcomes in rural and underserved areas by increasing the number of family medicine physicians in these areas who have high-quality, evidence-based obstetrical care skills.
Intervention: The STRETCH-OB program trains a select number of family medicine residents at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford each year to provide high-quality maternity care, including surgical obstetrical care.
Results: Four STRETCH-OB residents have graduated as of June 2025 and all have cesarean section privileges in their practice.

Updated/reviewed May 2025

Need: To connect patients to resources in order to reduce use of emergency services, emergency department visits, and hospital readmissions.
Intervention: Patients receive support (by in-person visit, phone call, or telehealth visit) from a paramedic, community health nurse, peer recovery specialist, and pharmacist.
Results: Between July 2016 and March 2024, the program made 1,098 patient contacts and continued to see a reduction in emergency department and inpatient visits and costs.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: Multiple organizations in rural east central Illinois needed a more efficient, centralized system for referring patients experiencing a behavioral health crisis to appropriate treatment services.
Intervention: The Regional Behavioral Health Network was established with a 24-hour toll-free crisis line, providing immediate access to trained crisis clinicians.
Results: Improved access to high quality behavioral healthcare for patients in rural east central Illinois.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: To improve maternal health in northeastern New Mexico.
Intervention: The Rural OB Access & Maternal Service program provides obstetric and maternal fetal medicine telehealth, home telehealth kits, and free access to lactation consultants and family navigators.
Results: ROAMS has worked with 2,000 unique individuals since July 2021.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: To provide increased educational opportunities for emergency care personnel in rural and frontier South Dakota.
Intervention: A technologically advanced training was created to enhance the delivery of emergency patient care.
Results: Hundreds of emergency medical services (EMS) staff and volunteers received training that in turn helped them in the field of emergency patient care.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: There is a shortage of rural physicians in the Northwestern United States.
Intervention: University of Washington medical students are receiving training through the TRUST program in rural communities across a five-state radius.
Results: Long-lasting connections have been formed among regional communities, medical students, and rural health professionals, with the goal of producing more rural physicians.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: To address shortages of nurse practitioners and mental health professionals in rural Minnesota.
Intervention: The University of Minnesota (UMN) School of Nursing implemented a 40-hour rural rotation for students in the psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner program.
Results: 29 students completed rural rotations in communities across the state; several students voiced a new openness to practicing in a rural area after participating in the program.

Updated/reviewed March 2025

Need: To connect people in need in Allegany County, Maryland, to health and human services and to items like hygiene products, food, and clothing.
Intervention: The Possibility Shop partners with health organizations, insurance navigators, food banks, and other agencies.
Results: In 2024, 15,246 service encounters occurred and 940 intakes to services were performed.

Added December 2024

Need: To provide basic pregnancy-related and preventive health services to women in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Intervention: A mobile clinic travels to different communities and provides basic preventive care, contraception, and pregnancy testing and ultrasounds.
Results: Since the program began, clinical staff have provided services to nearly 6,000 women.

Added December 2024

Need: To train the next generation of psychiatrists in a rural context, while providing psychiatric care to an underserved region of West Virginia.
Intervention: A new rural psychiatry residency program at Marshall University, in which residents split their time between the rural town of Point Pleasant and the larger city of Huntington.
Results: The program welcomed its first class of residents in July 2024.