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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Project Examples: Healthcare needs and services

Promising Examples

Updated/reviewed June 2022

  • Need: To reduce smoking rates of pregnant women and adolescents in Appalachian regions of eastern Kentucky and Ohio.
  • Intervention: A web-based smoking cessation program that offered monetary incentives to reducing smoking.
  • Results: Participants significantly reduced smoking rates or quit altogether.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed July 2020

  • Need: To improve the oral health status of children ages 3 to 17 living in rural areas of Louisiana.
  • Intervention: School-based nurse practitioners perform oral health assessments, apply fluoride varnishes when indicated, and make dental referrals, with completion rates of the latter tracked by dental case managers.
  • Results: Significant numbers of school children are receiving oral health examinations, fluoride varnish applications, and receiving care coordination to improve numbers of completed dental appointments.

Other Project Examples

funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed November 2025

  • Need: To help individuals and families impacted by substance use disorder access treatment and counseling in rural Missouri.
  • Intervention: The CMH Addiction Recovery Program provides medication-assisted treatment, counseling, peer and family support, and other related services within a Rural Health Clinic.
  • Results: The program operates 5 days a week and sees 400 patients each month.

Updated/reviewed November 2025

  • Need: Suicide rates among men age 65 and older have been rising in North Carolina. Challenges include losing friends, illnesses, and the loss of independence – all of which can lead to isolation and depression.
  • Intervention: Chatham County Aging Services of North Carolina started the Men's Conversation Group to connect retired men in need of male friends and mutual support.
  • Results: Men in similar stages of life and varying backgrounds are forming friendships, engaging in activities, and taking care of their mental health.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed November 2025

  • Need: To bring preventive care and other services to rural Missouri patients with chronic illnesses and difficulties accessing primary care.
  • Intervention: Community paramedics make home visits and provide basic care, home assessments, and medication reconciliation and facilitate telehealth visits.
  • Results: Patients experienced improved access to care, health status, and compliance with medication regimens along with increased patient engagement, satisfaction, and access to community resources.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed November 2025

  • Need: To support pregnant and parenting women with a history of substance use, mental health, or co-occurring disorders in rural areas of Montana.
  • Intervention: One Health, a consortium of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), developed a team of "recovery doulas" – individuals who are dual-certified as doulas and peer-support specialists. The One Health recovery doula program offers group and individual services to women and their partners from pregnancy through the first years of parenthood.
  • Results: A team of four recovery doulas (or doulas-in-training) employed by One Health offer services in 8 rural eastern Montana counties. One Health has also successfully trained and certified 35 Peer Recovery Doulas statewide through their Peer Recovery Doula certification curriculum.

Updated/reviewed November 2025

  • Need: Men in the agriculture industry face high suicide rates due to factors including long hours, geographic isolation, lack of social opportunities, and stigma surrounding mental health care.
  • Intervention: The Coffee Break Project, a program led by Valley-Wide Health Systems, Inc. in southeastern Colorado, encourages mental health check-ins for farmers and ranchers through a public awareness campaign and casual coffee gatherings that utilize COMET, an intervention model developed specifically for rural communities.
  • Results: Between eight and 20 people typically attend each coffee gathering.

Updated/reviewed October 2025

  • Need: To increase access to healthcare throughout Alabama.
  • Intervention: The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has created telehealth communications at county health departments.
  • Results: ADPH telehealth services are currently available in 65 of 67 county health departments.

Updated/reviewed October 2025

  • Need: To expand public health and human services to adults living in rural West Central Missouri.
  • Intervention: HCC Network organized Project Connect events, daylong resource fairs that offer free public health and human services to low-income adults, and now serves as a resource for other organizations who would like to host a Project Connect event in their area.
  • Results: In 2024, local Project Connect events welcomed 100 families and offered numerous services and resource connections.

Updated/reviewed October 2025

  • Need: To reduce injuries in agricultural communities and improve emergency responders' preparedness when called to farms and ranches.
  • Intervention: RF-DASH equips rural fire/EMS personnel and others with agricultural health and safety knowledge and tools to pre-plan for agricultural emergencies as well as assess and then mitigate agricultural hazards.
  • Results: Over 250 firefighters and EMTs have received training to become RF-DASH trainers.

For examples from other sources, see: