Improving Access to Healthcare in Rural America
Rural Healthcare is a HUGE Topic, Catch up on the Conversation from the Last Three Rural Progress Summits
As One Country Project gets ready for the 4th Annual Rural Progress Summit in July, we are taking a look back to highlights from past Rural Progress Summits every Friday.
Registration is now open for the 4th annual Rural Progress Summit July 8-10. Learn more and register today!
Healthcare is a big topic for rural communities. We’ve covered it in depth at all three Rural Progress Summits. Today, we’re sharing highlights of these conversations from each Summit.
Healthcare in rural America has been a complex situation with unequal access to care, uneven outcomes for patients, and closing facilities. In this conversation from the 2024 Rural Progress Summit, Dr. Yvonne Jonk from the Maine Rural Health Research Center, Ben Anderson from Families USA, Dr. Julie Yaroch from the ProMedica Charles & Virginia Hickman Hospital discuss options for improving access and how rural patients can get the care they deserve.
Rural hospitals around the country are closing at alarming rates, leaving community members without care. If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis is an exploration into the lives of people living in the rural South with limited or no access to healthcare.
Dr. Teresa Gardner-Dyson and Dr. Paula Hills Collins were featured in the film for their work with The Health Wagon. The Health Wagon delivers primary, specialty, dental, and vision care to the medically underserved in poverty-stricken areas of rural Appalachia.
Rural America faces numerous obstacles to accessible and affordable healthcare. Former One Country Board Member Rep. Anthony Daniels is joined by Ebunola Aniyikaiye, Assistant General Counsel and Senior Director of Policy & Regulatory Affairs at Homeward Health, Carolyn Mayle, Vice President, Government Affairs, Air Methods Corporation, and Donald May, Senior Vice President of Policy, Federation of American Hospitals. They discuss how to overcome these challenges and highlight successful programs that are helping to close the healthcare gap in rural America.
Former One Country Board Member and Minority Leader of the Alabama House of Representatives Anthony Daniels moderated a panel of healthcare experts through a conversation on barriers to healthcare access and delivery, the role of telehealth, the impacts of the pandemic on rural healthcare, the rising cost of care, and the medical workforce pipeline in rural areas. Former Oregon Governer John Kitzhaber, Aidan O'Connor, critical care flight paramedic and member of the Senior Leadership Team for Air Methods, Dr. Richard Powers, former medical director for the Alabama Department of Mental Health, and Sean Robbins, Executive Vice President for External Affairs at Blue Cross Blue Shield join the discussion.
One Country co-founder Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is joined by JaeLynn Williams, CEO of Air Methods, Carrie Cochran-McLain, Chief Policy Officer for National Rural Health Association, and Whitney Corby, 2018 MedEvac Patient of the Year. They discuss the importance of access to reliable and affordable emergency medical services.
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Has your community lost its hospital? Have you struggled to reach your provider due to distance limitations? Tell us about it. Email: podcast@onecountryproject.com and your feedback could be on an upcoming episode of The Hot Dish.