Skip to main content

National Rural Health Day Long Overdue

 |  By Alexandra Wilson Pecci  
   November 16, 2011

When was the last time you stopped what you were doing to give yourself and your rural hospital a pat on the back?

If your answer to that question is "never," you undoubtedly wouldn't be alone.

"They're so busy in the trenches," Cindy Large, Indiana Flex Program coordinator, tells HealthLeaders Media.

But on Thursday, state offices of rural health, rural hospitals, and other rural health organizations across the country will get a chance to recognize their achievements by participating in a long-overdue celebration of rural healthcare.

The first annual National Rural Health Day aims to shine a light on rural health—what makes it great and its challenges—in an effort to "celebrate the power of rural," as the event's tagline says.  Spearheaded by the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health, the celebration encourages rural health organizations throughout the country to participate with conferences, events, and legislative proclamations declaring the third Thursday of November National Rural Health Day.

Among those celebrating is the Indiana Rural Health Association, which has set up a webpage dedicated to the event. The site features rural success stories that hospitals throughout the state shared with the association in recognition of the day.

"I was surprised by the number of stories that I received from all of them," Large said.

And there are a lot of stories. Like the one from Rush Memorial Hospital in Rushville, IN, about a community- and hospital-based initiative to help patients and families cope with the financial strains of cancer treatment, and from Jasper County Hospital, a critical access hospital in Rensselaer, IN, which recently installed an MRI system, allowing patients to get have their  scans done close to home.

Although National Rural Health Day is intended to be an annual event, Large says she'll keep updating the site all year with success stories.

"We want to show how important our rural communities are to our state and our organization. I think that our rural communities don't get the recognition that they deserve," Large says. "They just do not communicate all the great things that they do on a routine basis. So what we wanted to do is bring that to the forefront and help them to celebrate the power of rural"

National Rural Health Day's main website is also filled with community success stories, tools and ideas for celebrating locally, and rural health educational resources. There will also be a series of free webinars from the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health running Thursday  beginning at 11:30 am EST. Here's the schedule:

  • 11:30 a.m. EST – Delivering Occupational Health Care to Farm Families across the Nation, featuring Carolyn Sheridan, Clinical Director, AgriSafe Network
  • 12:30 p.m. EST – Rural Health 101, featuring Tom Morris, HRSA Associate Administrator for Rural Health Policy; Kristine Sande, Program Director, Rural Assistance Center; and Rebecca Davis, Executive Director, National Cooperative of Health Networks
  • 2:00 p.m. ESTCaring for Rural Veterans, featuring Mary Beth Skupien, Director, Veterans Health Administration Office of Rural Health
  • 3:00 p.m. EST – Being a Rural Health Provider is a Great Thing, featuring Natalie González of the National Rural Recruitment and Retention Network
  • 4:00 p.m. EST – Quality of Care in Rural America/Partnership for Patients, featuring Mary Wakefield, HRSA Administrator; Sue Sheridan, President/Founder, Consumers Advancing Patient Safety; and Dennis Wagner, Co-director, Partnership for Patients Initiative, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Alexandra Wilson Pecci is an editor for HealthLeaders.

Tagged Under:


Get the latest on healthcare leadership in your inbox.