Rural Project Examples: Populations
Effective Examples
Medical Legal Partnership of Southern Illinois
Updated/reviewed November 2024
- Need: Legal barriers often prevent low-income people in Southern Illinois from obtaining positive health outcomes despite receiving medical care.
- Intervention: The Medical Legal Partnership of Southern Illinois (MLPSI) was formed to create a system where medical providers can refer patients in need of legal assistance to local attorneys.
- Results: Over 5,700 patients have utilized MLPSI since its founding in 2002. The program has relieved over $8.1 million in medical debt for both hospitals and patients.
I Got You: Healthy Life Choices for Teens (IGU)

Updated/reviewed February 2024
- Need: To improve awareness of behavioral and mental health issues by students in rural, east central Mississippi.
- Intervention: An intensive community mental health outreach program was implemented for students in rural Mississippi.
- Results: As of 2018 and on a yearly basis, 6,000 7th and 8th grade students receive mental health education on a variety of topics which improves their ability to recognize mental health issues, high risk behaviors, and manage their own choices.
The Pacific Care Model: Charting the Course for Non-communicable Disease Prevention and Management
Updated/reviewed October 2023
- Need: The U.S. Associated Pacific Islands (USAPI) needed an efficient, effective, integrated method to improve primary care services that addressed the increased rates of non-communicable disease (NCD), the regional-specific phrase designating chronic disease.
- Intervention: Through specialized training, multidisciplinary teams from five of the region's health systems implemented the Chronic Care Model (CCM), an approach that targets healthcare system improvements, uses information technology, incorporates evidence-based disease management, and includes self-management support strengthened by community resources.
- Results: Aimed at diabetes management, teams developed a regional, culturally-relevant Non-Communicable Disease Collaborative Initiative that addresses chronic disease management challenges and strengthens healthcare quality and outcomes.
Perinatal Health Partnership Southeast Georgia

Updated/reviewed February 2023
- Need: In 12 rural southeast Georgia counties, high-risk pregnant individuals potentially face adverse birth outcomes, including maternal or infant mortality, low birthweight, very low birthweight, or other medical or developmental problems.
- Intervention: An in-home nursing case management program for high-risk pregnant individuals in order to maximize pregnancy outcomes for mothers and their newborns.
- Results: Mothers carry their babies longer and the babies are larger when born, leading to improved health outcomes.
Livingston County Help For Seniors

Updated/reviewed May 2020
- Need: Meeting the health needs of geriatric patients in rural Livingston County, New York.
- Intervention: The Help for Seniors program was developed and using its 'vodcasts,' local EMTs were trained in geriatric screening methods and health needs treatment.
- Results: In addition to developing a successful model for educating EMS personnel, the program screened over 1200 individuals and identified various risks among the geriatric population.
Promising Examples
SASH® (Support and Services at Home)
Updated/reviewed April 2025
- Need: In Vermont, the growing population of older adults, coupled with a lack of a decentralized, home-based system of care management, poses significant challenges for those who want to remain living independently at home.
- Intervention: SASH® (Support and Services at Home), based in affordable housing and their surrounding communities throughout the state, works with community partners to help older adults and people with disabilities receive the care they need so they can continue living safely at home.
- Results: Compared to their non-SASH peers, SASH participants have been documented to have better health outcomes, including fewer falls, lower rates of hospitalizations, fewer emergency room visits, and lower Medicare and Medicaid expenditures.
Health without Borders


Updated/reviewed January 2025
- Need: To improve the health of communities in the south central region of New Mexico.
- Intervention: A program was developed to address diabetes prevention and control, behavioral healthcare, and immunization in Luna County.
- Results: During the program, 1,500 immunizations were distributed, baseline measurements of participants improved, and 935 new patients were seen for behavioral health issues.
Tomah Hearing Loss Prevention Outreach
Updated/reviewed November 2024
- Need: Farmers are highly susceptible to permanent hearing loss due to prolonged exposure to loud machinery and livestock.
- Intervention: Faculty and students from the audiology department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison supplied earplugs, free hearing testing, and hearing loss prevention education to attendees and participants at an annual tractor pull event.
- Results: Between 2014 and 2019, the audiology team distributed more than 16,000 pairs of earplugs; attendees were receptive to the hearing loss prevention education provided by the team.
Project C.A.R.E.
Updated/reviewed October 2024
- Need: There is a lack of dementia-specific support for rural caregivers.
- Intervention: Project C.A.R.E. was created to meet the needs of caregivers of those with Alzheimer's or other dementias, targeting rural North Carolina.
- Results: Under Project C.A.R.E., rural families receive information and referrals as well as individualized care consultation from dementia-trained family consultants.
Faith, Activity, and Nutrition
Updated/reviewed September 2024
- Need: To increase healthy eating and physical activity levels in Fairfield County, South Carolina.
- Intervention: Community health advisors trained church committees and delivered telephone-based technical assistance to improve opportunities, guidelines, messages, and pastor support for physical activity and healthy eating.
- Results: In a 2018 study, churchgoers reported seeing more opportunities for physical activity as well as more messages and pastor support for physical activity and healthy eating. Intervention churches also had fewer inactive churchgoers, compared to control churches.
For examples from other sources, see: