USDA's Rural Development mission area includes the improvement of health access for rural residents through some of its program offerings. Rod Bain reports.
PARTICIPANTS: Rod Bain and Rural Development Under Secretary Basil Gooden.
Transcript
Health and health care in rural America receive greater awareness annually in November, specifically the third Thursday of November, which is National Rural Health Awareness Day.
This is an opportunity actually for us to come together to recognize the importance and the tremendous work that rural health care workers do across the country.
Their commitment to really providing critical medical services to rural communities, rural individuals.
Agriculture Undersecretary for Rural Development, Basil Gooden, is among those who recognize and promote National Rural Health Awareness Day.
He understands the various challenges rural citizens face regarding access to health care.
The number of medical facilities in rural areas are lower.
Rural people have to travel actually to receive health care far greater distances.
Certainly knowing that there are often shortages of medical specialists in some of these rural areas and that there are just so many more obstacles that rural people have to endure to receive the quality health care that they need.
He notes various rural development programs to support areas of rural health.
For instance.
Our community facilities programs that's actually designed to provide funding to medical facilities, whether it's rural hospitals, medical clinics.
This includes RD investments in various mobile health clinics to travel to rural patients in need of care.
Those were emergency health care grant program.
With some of those mobile units also receiving support in ways such as video equipment and additional staffing.
Access to a pharmacist, a social worker.
In addition.
We also have a grant program called the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants designed to connect rural communities to some of these areas that will have specialists or other medical facilities through telemedicine, telehealth, or even educational programs when we start addressing preventive health measures.
Then there is the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, a public private partnership between rural development and program administrator reinvestment fund.
Really designed to make sure that we are addressing the nutritional needs of rural America and certainly our youngest citizens in rural America, making sure that the kids have the nutrition to keep them healthy and to grow, develop minds and sound and strong bodies.
Undersecretary Gooden emphasizes the importance of partnership when addressing rural health challenges and developing potential solutions.
We are proud at the partnerships that we have with local health districts, with state health organizations and nonprofit organizations as well.
I'm Rod Bain reporting for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.
