Topics: Community engagement and volunteerism

Keeping the Doors Open: Vulnerable Rural Hospitals Benefit from Federally Funded Technical Assistance

It’s a crisis: rural hospital closures. Helping at-risk hospitals thrive in order to continue to serve their communities, Texas A&M’s Center for Optimizing Rural Health (CORH) offers technical assistance through a federally funded program for vulnerable hospitals. The CORH team and an Oklahoma program participant share specifics on just how the program’s assistance can help keep doors open.

Researchers and rural communities are working together to address rural cancer prevention and control, with federal funding supporting a wide range of projects. From targeting health behaviors, to making cancer screening and vaccination more accessible, to increasing rural participation in clinical trials, efforts to reduce rural cancer burden are underway across the country.

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.

An event space in Dalhart, Texas was converted into a COVID-19 vaccine clinic, distributing 1,232 Pfizer vaccines to residents in a tri-county area and beyond, finding unique ways for the participants to promote the event on social media.

Brock Slabach, the National Rural Health Association’s Senior Vice President for Member Services, discusses the impact of COVID-19 on rural America’s healthcare organizations.

A new diagnosis of cancer? Of a rare disease? Or a chronic medical problem with seemingly no new treatment? The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences is supporting investigators and ensuring that their cutting-edge science gets to the people who need it. Translational science teams in Arkansas, Florida and Washington are making that happen in the rural areas of their states.

In rural America, many community members do not understand the skill level, training, and availability of the people who answer their 911 calls. The Informed Self-Determination Process helped the community of St. George, Maine learn about their EMS system and created consensus about what EMS would look like in their town.

On average, rural residents wait twice as long for emergency medical services than urban residents. Stop the Bleed is a trauma training initiative that teaches laypeople how to pack wounds and apply tourniquets in order to improve survival rates until medical attention arrives.

Across the country, recruitment and retention challenges are common for rural healthcare entities providing post-acute care. Healthcare leaders share practical examples that have created incentive for staff to join, and stay on, their healthcare teams.

Limited funding, expanding coverage areas, and a cultural shift in volunteerism across generations has motivated EMS leaders to find new recruitment methods that attract more personnel and keep them as long as possible.

The Rural Monitor

Articles and resources on key rural health issues, from the Rural Health Information Hub

Topics: Community engagement and volunteerism

Keeping the Doors Open: Vulnerable Rural Hospitals Benefit from Federally Funded Technical Assistance

Federal Agencies’ Investment in Rural Cancer Control Fosters Partnerships between Researchers and Rural Communities

Critical Access Hospital in Oregon Uses Advisory Council and Trainings to Improve Cultural Competency

1,232 Doses of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Distributed at Coliseum in Dalhart, Texas

COVID-19’s Current Impact on Rural Healthcare Delivery: Q&A with Brock Slabach

NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences: Involving Rural America in Research

Making Informed Decisions about Rural EMS

Trauma Training Initiative Teaches Rural Laypeople How to “Stop the Bleed”

Rural Post-Acute Care: Healthcare Leaders Offer Practical Solutions to Workforce Challenges

Recruitment and Retention: Overcoming the Rural EMS Dilemma