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News Articles: Rural Health

A Teton County emergency medical services volunteer outside the Benefis Teton Medical Center in Choteau, Mont.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Rural Ambulance Services At Risk As Volunteers Age And Expenses Mount

To keep emergency services afloat in rural areas, communities will have to go beyond volunteer-based programs to get people to distant hospitals, experts say. Meanwhile, some 911 calls go unanswered.

July 05, 2021
|
By:
  • Aaron Bolton
Poverty and disability are linked to lower vaccination rates in some rural communities. The Vaccination Transportation Initiative sponsored van helps rural residents get the COVID-19 vaccine in rural Mississippi. The effort works to overcome the lack of transportation and access to technology for rural residents.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Rural Communities Fall Further Behind In COVID-19 Vaccination Rates

Cities are leaving rural areas behind in the race to vaccinate against COVID-19, but some states' suburbs are struggling, too. To close the gap experts say, outreach needs to be hyperlocal.

June 11, 2021
|
By:
  • Austin Fast
Delta Health Center, in rural northwest Mississippi, was founded in the 1960s and is one of the country's first community health centers. Delta's leaders say community health centers all over the U.S. are trusted institutions which can help distribute COVID-19 vaccines.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

With Roots In Civil Rights, Community Health Centers Push For Equity In The Pandemic

A federally-funded clinic in rural Mississippi embodies the history of community health centers in the U.S., and shows how these safety-net clinics can help minority patients during the pandemic.

June 03, 2021
|
By:
  • Shalina Chatlani
A pharmacist administers a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to a worker at a processing plant in Arkansas City, Kan., on March 5. Researchers are concerned that vaccination rates in some rural communities may not keep up with urban rates.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Lagging Vaccination Rates Among Rural Seniors Hint At Brewing Rural-Urban Divide

As adults of all ages get access to the COVID-19 vaccines, health researchers worry that the trend could worsen.

April 20, 2021
|
By:
  • Austin Fast
Peanut farmer Gerue Reliford, Jr. gets checked into the mobile vaccine clinic parked in Preston, Ga. recently. Reliford said he'd been anxious to get vaccinated but had to wait for the age limit to drop to 55+. Even so, it was hard to take time from harrowing peanut fields in the spring to make an appointment. The mobile clinic helped. "I just jumped in my truck and came over," Reliford said.

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

'Go Get It': Vaccines Hit Road To Rural Georgia To Bridge Access Gap

Just because you are eligible to get vaccinated doesn’t mean it’s easy. In rural areas and in cities, there are still obvious, and not so obvious, barriers to vaccine access. So what about taking vaccines on the road?

March 25, 2021
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
People line up to be tested for the coronavirus at a free testing site Wednesday, Nov. 18 in Seattle.

Tagged as: 

  • National

Rural Health Systems Challenged By COVID-19 Surge

Medical services in small Northwest towns are stretched to the limit with shortages of qualified workers and PPE, CARES Act funds running out and hospitals at or near capacity.

December 12, 2020
|
By:
  • Anna King
Officer directs traffic outside Swainsboro Middle School

Tagged as: 

  • Education

Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had A Teacher On A Ventilator.

Eleven states let school districts decide whether students and staff must wear masks. One Georgia middle school where masks were optional became the center of an outbreak.

November 24, 2020
|
By:
  • Annie Waldman and
  • Heather Vogell
Rural communities across the country, places largely spared during the early days of the pandemic, are now seeing spikes in infections and hospitalizations.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

COVID-19 Surges In Rural Communities, Overwhelming Some Local Hospitals

As COVID-19 cases increase, many rural communities, places which were largely spared during the early months of the pandemic, are now contending with a spike in infections and hospitalizations.

October 22, 2020
|
By:
  • Will Stone
Man walking dog in Hancock County

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Race And COVID-19: Stark Disparities In Rural Georgia

USA Today found that many counties with the highest COVID death rates nationally have a majority of their populations being people of color. In Hancock County, three in four residents are in that demographic.

October 19, 2020
|
By:
  • Andy Miller
More than 65% of the nation's small, rural hospitals took out loans from Medicare when the pandemic hit. Many now face repayment at a time when they are under great financial strain.<strong></strong>

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Rural Hospitals Teeter On Financial Cliff As COVID-19 Medicare Loans Come Due

The federal loans were meant to help hospitals survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet they're coming due now — at a time when many rural hospitals are still desperate for help.

September 22, 2020
|
By:
  • Sarah Jane Tribble
COVID-19 testing in Macon.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Georgia Surpasses 200,000 COVID-19 Cases, Hot Spots Remain

Georgia has passed the 200,000 mark in COVID-19 cases and is close to exceeding 4,000 deaths from the virus.

August 06, 2020
|
By:
  • Andy Miller
GPB News NPR

Tagged as: 

  • Health

In Rural Missouri, Latinx Communities Learn To Contain And Cope With The Coronavirus

Rural Carthage, Mo., is home to a growing community of Latin American immigrants. Language barriers and economic stress have made it harder to slow the spread of COVID-19.

August 01, 2020
|
By:
  • Sebastián Martínez Valdivia
Hospital road sign

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

Feds Offer Rural Hospitals 'Band-Aid' As Coronavirus Adds To Financial Ills

For the state’s fragile rural hospitals, the pandemic represents a stress test some observers worry not all will survive. Since 2010, seven hospitals have closed their doors.

July 21, 2020
|
By:
  • Jill Nolin
The March of Dimes says Georgia ranks 45th nationwide for its high number of perterm births.

Study: Preterm Births In Georgia Rise For The 3rd Year

A new report shows the number of babies born early in Georgia is rising. The state already ranks near the bottom when it comes to maternal and infant...

April 29, 2020
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

Good Pill Pharmacy Repurposes Surplus Medications For Low-Income Georgians

From waiting rooms across the country to the floor of the U.S. Capitol, healthcare is one of the biggest issues for American voters. One of the main...

April 22, 2020
|
By:
  • Emilia Brock and
  • Virginia Prescott
  • Load More

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