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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy created the Rural Pharmacy Practice program, a concentration for PharmD students interested in working in rural communities. Two students, two assistant professors, and a clinical pharmacy specialist share their experiences.
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Tribal communities have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Serving the four federally recognized tribes in Maine, Wabanaki Public Health is taking a stand to address these disparities. A recipient of the Rural Tribal COVID Response (RTCR) grant, they have implemented a number of programs to meet the needs of their communities, providing support by reinforcing cultural connection even in the most difficult of times.
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