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Rural Health Information Hub

The Rural Monitor

CDFIs 'Make Dreams Come True' by Creating Opportunity in Rural Spaces

December 4, 2019
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) can offer flexible financing options, but many operate at full capacity and there is a general lack of awareness of these institutions in rural spaces. Foundation and CDFI leaders share their perspectives about the difference CDFIs can make on rural health outcomes.

Diagnosing the Rural COPD Patient: Ask About Symptoms, Use Spirometry

November 20, 2019
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute calculates that 3.5 million rural Americans have COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It's also estimated that hundreds of thousands of rural Americans have the condition and don't know it. Though it is a condition without a cure, it is a condition with hope. The COPD Foundation's Chief Science Officer and a State Captain share how asking questions and doing spirometry can help diagnose the condition.

Office-Based Spirometry: Key to Diagnosing Rural COPD Patients

November 20, 2019
Chronic obstructive lung disease, or COPD, is a disease with a stronghold in rural America: almost double the prevalence and double the mortality rates compared to large urban areas. Though it is a condition with no cure, it's a condition that has treatments — and hope — making proper diagnosis by spirometry imperative.

Creating a Consortium to Combat the Opioid Epidemic in Ohio

November 6, 2019
To help Ohio counties affected by the opioid crisis, Ohio University and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) applied for FORHP's Rural Communities Opioid Response Program planning grant. Awarded separately, the partners formally braided the grants together, allowing the organizations to form a master consortium with five counties.

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

October 23, 2019
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.

Translational Science: Research with Results that Touch Rural Populations

October 23, 2019
Translational science is a specialized research field bringing cutting-edge science to patients that need it. Making sure rural communities are also recipients of new research, the National Center for Advancing Translational Science is a federal agency that facilitates the steps and supports the investigators who want their findings to translate into better health.

Enhancing Services for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deafblind Patients in Rural America

October 9, 2019
Deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind people in rural communities may struggle to access healthcare due to a lack of interpreters as well as providers' misunderstanding of their culture and communication needs. A Michigan clinic hires ASL-fluent staff and provides telemental health, a New Jersey state division provides deaf sensitivity training, and a Colorado program brings interpreters to rural communities.