July 26, 2023
In response to rising rates of overdose death and injection-related disease, rural organizers across the country are testing innovative harm reduction strategies to expand potentially life-saving services to some of the most marginalized members of their communities.
April 5, 2023
As Program Chief of the Office of Rural Mental Health Research, Dawn Morales, PhD, discusses recent stressors such as the financial impact of natural disasters on farmers and ranchers as well as the loss of revered elders in indigenous communities due to COVID-19. She also stresses the importance of cultural competency in mental healthcare and rural-specific protective factors.
January 11, 2023
Oklahoma State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation prepares future doctors to work in rural and tribal settings where healthcare workers are in short supply.
June 1, 2022
Nuclear weapons testing from 1945 to 1962 and uranium mining from 1943 to 1971 exposed workers and community members living near the mines or testing sites to harmful levels of radiation that can lead to cancer and other illnesses. Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program (RESEP) grants help healthcare organizations provide screenings, referrals for medical treatment, and other services to this population. Two grantees, the Navajo Area RESEP and the Southwestern Utah RESEP, share their stories.
February 16, 2022
By leveraging federal COVID-related funding, the Quapaw Nation now serves its local residents with a new community paramedicine program. Current program data indicates that it's bringing significant cost savings, along with valuable information for future local healthcare delivery decision-making. Most importantly, the program is also proving to be widely acceptable to community members.
October 6, 2021
Three programs across rural America demonstrate how doulas improve birth outcomes by providing prenatal, labor, and postpartum support. A New Mexico program reaches American Indian, Hispanic, and other populations who lack nearby labor/delivery units; a Minnesota program works with moms experiencing incarceration; and a North Dakota program is training postpartum doulas who will care for families impacted by opioid use disorder and other substance use.
February 24, 2021
To improve care for its American Indian and Latino patients, St. Charles Madras, a Critical Access Hospital in Oregon, created a Patient Family Advisory Council, implemented cultural competency trainings, and installed new artwork to better represent its community.
February 3, 2021
Aaron Wernham and Scott Malloy of the Montana Healthcare Foundation share how their foundation responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing technical assistance, organizing webinars to clarify emergency declaration orders, and creating a grant application assistance initiative.
January 27, 2021
Barbara Leonard and Ruta Kadonoff of the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF) discuss how their foundation provided unrestricted COVID-19 grants and open competitive grants and partnered with other philanthropies pooling together COVID-19 response funds.
January 13, 2021
Dolores E. Roybal, executive director of Con Alma Health Foundation, discusses how her foundation partnered with other funders to provide almost $2 million in grants and created an advisory committee of immigrant-led, immigrant-serving organizations to address barriers limiting access to services.