Rural Project Examples Addressing Healthcare needs and services

EMS Live@Nite

Updated/reviewed September 2023

Need: Distance, time, and cost make it difficult for EMS volunteers to attend continuing education and maintain certification.
Intervention: Providence Health Training delivers free online training to rural EMS providers via video teleconferencing.
Results: The EMS Live@Nite program provides free, monthly training to rural EMS providers in the northwestern part of the United States. The program is available through live video conferencing from certified locations in rural communities.

Updated/reviewed September 2023

Need: Two rural upstate New York counties struggled to provide necessary public health leadership and services amid a fluid environment with rising costs and funding limitations.
Intervention: The Genesee County and Orleans County health departments began a cross jurisdictional sharing relationship that integrated select functions and services, beginning with sharing a director and deputy director.
Results: By sharing personnel and functions, management personnel costs have been cut in half and both counties have saved over $2 million for the counties combined.

Added August 2023

Need: To reduce poor maternal and infant health outcomes and improve access to prenatal and postpartum care for at-risk pregnant women and recent mothers in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Intervention: A home visitation program that uses community paramedics to deliver wrap-around care to women experiencing high-risk pregnancies and/or social and environmental challenges.
Results: Since 2018, more than 200 women have been served by the program.

Updated/reviewed July 2023

Need: School-based drug misuse prevention program in Appalachian Ohio, a need triggered by a high school student's overdose death.
Intervention: Implementation of the HOPE curriculum, an age-appropriate K through 12th grade drug abuse prevention program.
Results: No further drug overdose deaths after curriculum initiated.

Updated/reviewed May 2023

Need: To address the needs of pregnant women who are using substances and infants born into drug-positive families.
Intervention: The Mothers and Infants Sober Together (MIST) program assisted mothers who used substances get treatment and provide a safe, drug-free home for themselves and their newborn.
Results: MIST has helped mothers find treatment and education and has helped children grow up in safe and healthy homes.

Updated/reviewed May 2023

Need: Out of 79 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) surveyed in Minnesota in 2015, behavioral health was the most frequently cited service requested.
Intervention: In response, Rural Health Innovations launched the Minnesota Integrative Behavioral Health Program. This initiative engaged representatives across all sectors in health integration between hospital, primary care, and community services.
Results: Strategy sessions resulted in the creation of resource directories to improve care coordination, evaluation measurements to document results, and an overall better understanding of integrative care challenges.

Updated/reviewed March 2023

Need: Improving outcomes for Outer and Lower Cape Cod residents in need of social, behavioral health, and substance use disorder services while reducing the burden and costs to town agencies and hospital emergency rooms.
Intervention: The Community Resource Navigator Program works with local social services, town agencies, faith-based institutions, hospitals, the criminal justice system, and others to identify and connect clients to needed services.
Results: Clients are gaining access to the care they were once lacking, as measured by improvements in self-sufficiency. The program also helps community partners and stakeholders work together to reduce the impact of risks associated with behavioral health symptoms, substance use disorder, and social determinants of health.

Updated/reviewed January 2023

Need: To reduce the number of overdoses and overdose-related deaths from opioids in rural Pennsylvania.
Intervention: ARMOT provides 1) case management and recovery support services to individuals with substance use disorders and 2) education and support to rural hospital staff, patients, and their loved ones.
Results: Since 2015, ARMOT has received over 2,956 referrals.

Updated/reviewed December 2022

Need: To lessen the impact of chronic disease and associated complications in North Carolina.
Intervention: Partners in Health and Wholeness, an initiative of the NC Council of Churches, is a faith-based program that integrates healthy living within congregations while offering financial support to launch or expand health initiatives. The program partners with faith communities in North Carolina to fund and support their health initiatives through collaborative partnerships.
Results: Since its founding in 2009, over 900 churches have become a part of the PHW, many in rural areas, and over 600 mini-grants have been awarded to congregations.

Updated/reviewed December 2022

Need: Public health departments in Colorado's rural San Luis Valley region desired to share public health services to improve health outcomes in the region.
Intervention: Six counties joined in a public health cross-jurisdictional sharing arrangement. The partnership has served as a forum for sharing and evaluating opportunities to improve health access and core public health services.
Results: The partnership has enabled health departments to share expertise and develop regional projects to provide a broader range of public health services.