Healthier Rural America

Re-Imagining a Healthier Rural America

Policies | Politics | Practicalities

National Institute for Rural Health

Do you believe the US must deliver better health and healthcare for rural Americans supported by the development, dissemination, and implementation of actionable knowledge to one and all? If so, Healthier Rural America invites you to read and comment on this proposal outlining the creation of a National Institute for Rural Health (NIRH) within the US Departments of Agriculture & Health and Human Services.

Progress is possible when rural communities come together and rewrite the narrative from one of unchangeable underservice to one of resilience and renewal. Read three success stories from three very different communities in Nebraska, New Mexico and South Carolina that can help all of us to understand some of the hidden truths of rural areas in the United States.

Rural American Renaissance…Make It Real!

Listen carefully, and you can hear the new rural voices and a new rural message. It is a message of hope, a refocus on values, and a declaration of how rural America can and will not only survive but lead in the new world. We believe that we hear the voice of a Rural Renaissance, and we are here to ask the nation to make this renaissance succeed.

Healthier Rural America: Call to a Strategic Action Plan The nation has paid little attention and shown little support to the rural and remote regions of our nation. But given recent events, opportunities are surfacing to effectively support rural and remote communities.
A Healthier WE (a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization) collaborated with rural health leaders and created A Healthier Rural America: Call to a Strategic Action Plan. This plan outlines nine key initiatives that identify solutions to help create a healthier rural America.

Re-Imagining A Healthier Rural America: The Five F’s Addressed by the Five P’s

Read our recent op-ed that appeared on Thrive Global focusing on Re-Imagining a Healthier Rural America: The 5 F's Addressed by the 5 P's. Please feel free to share it with your friends and colleagues. We also welcome your feedback.

Commonwealth Club: A Healthy Society Series: Healthier Rural America --Toward A Better Future

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. World Health Organization (1948)

In these times, if “I” is replaced with “WE”, even illness becomes wellness.” We can only work towards a healthier rural America together. Phil Polakoff, MD, Founder/CEO A Healthier WE, Consulting Professor Stanford University School of Medicine

The Healthier Rural West Summit was held on March 19-21, 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah

The Summit, produced by A Healthier WE (not-for-profit organization), addressed many key challenges currently facing rural America by offering an inspiring vision of rural cooperation and leadership in the emerging information and health economies. This unique and highly interactive and participative Summit drew over 400 stakeholders from across the rural health ecosystem. Over the course of two days, participants listened to inspiring talks, and participated in thought-provoking sessions aimed at re-inventing well-being in rural America.

Even sessions I didn't think would be relevant to me, truly were. It opened my eyes to thinking about connections and partnerships more broadly. Past Summit Attendee

I enjoyed the focus on action. I attend a lot of more academic meetings/conferences, and it was refreshing to have a continuous focus on how we could use the new information to create solutions. Past Summit Attendee

I liked the diversity of people working on solutions from radically different perspectives. Past Summit Attendee

Healthier Rural America’s Core Objectives are:

1. Assemble civic, faith, healthcare and citizen leadership at the community, county, state, regional and federal level to address current rural health’s critical issues from a 360-degree perspective

2. Present, in an engaging manner, proven best practices and lessons learned in transforming health needs to well-being in rural communities

3. Provide experiential learning by using a collaborative approach, allowing for conceptualization and visualization to show how best practices can work in their community

4. Define next steps needed for leaders to achieve their health transformation objectives

5. Highlight a number of positive impact rural health success stories throughout America

One of the most critical and underreported health crises in the United States today is individual and community health and well-being in rural American. Rural health care is deficient everywhere in the United States, where considerations of distance, lack of sufficient number of qualified health providers, culture, economic status, education, and environment pose special challenges.

But poorly nuanced policy, underfunded public health, rising healthcare costs, and disparities in access to care are exacerbating poor health outcomes in rural areas. Increasing poverty, an aging population, antiquated educational approaches, and a rapidly changing environment now pose imminent challenges to the health and wellness in rural America and beyond.

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