National Rural Health Day Long Overdue

"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. EST – Caring 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