Category: Rural Health
Doctors Trained Abroad Want to See You Now
A handful of states are easing certain licensing requirements, creating programs for foreign-trained doctors to work alongside U.S.-trained ones, reserving residency spots for immigrant health workers and providing help, sometimes including financial aid, for those working to get a U.S. license. States hope the efforts can not only get medical providers to more places where they are needed—particularly underserved rural and urban areas—but also lead to more professionals who speak the same language as and are culturally attuned to those they treat in an ever more diverse America.
Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Could Further Strain Rural Hospitals
But the story may be more complicated in rural America, where resistance to the vaccine remains strongest. Some rural hospital leaders worry the vaccine mandate will exacerbate a labor shortage that was profound even before the pandemic. There are predictions that some hospitals will have to close their doors.
Covid Is Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of Urbanites
Rural Americans are dying of covid at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts — a divide that health experts say is likely to widen as access to medical care shrinks for a population that tends to be older, sicker, heavier, poorer and less vaccinated.
Rural Hospitals Can’t Find the Nurses They Need to Fight COVID
Across the country, thousands of hospitals are overwhelmed with critically ill patients, prompting many overburdened nurses to change careers or retire early. The shortages are particularly dire in rural areas, rural health experts say, because of the aging workforce and population, smaller salaries and intense workload.
Influx of Medical School Students Could Overwhelm Montana Resources, UW Leaders Warn
Opening two new medical schools in Montana would stretch and possibly overwhelm the state’s physicians who provide the clinical training that students need to become doctors, UW leaders say.
What the Slowing Vaccine Rates Mean for One Rural Montana County
Daily covid vaccination rates are falling nationwide. Gaps in vaccine uptake are starting to show, especially in rural America. That leaves many communities grappling with an imperfect pandemic endgame.
Riding Herd on Mental Health in Colorado Ranching Country
Two-thirds of farmers and farmworkers say the pandemic has impacted their mental health.
Fewer rural students applying to medical school
This decrease could lead to fewer doctors in less populated areas of the country
These States Found the Secret to COVID-19 Vaccination Success
Centralized approaches by states like West Virginia and Alaska have proved to be more efficient.
How the CARES Act Forgot America’s Most Vulnerable Hospitals
CARES Act funding for health care providers has been plagued by a dizzying rollout and, at times, contradictory guidelines for how to use the funding.
In Fast-Moving Pandemic, Health Officials Try to Change Minds at Warp Speed
In the history of public health laws, even rules that have had time to build widely accepted evidence weren’t guaranteed support.
What Happened When the Only ER Doctor in a Rural Town Got COVID
Papenfus is the lone full-time ER doctor in the town of 900, not far from the Kansas line. ““I’m chief of staff and medical director of everything,” he says.
Rural hospitals are under siege from COVID-19 . . . here’s what doctors are facing, in their own words
In many communities, the goodwill seen early in the pandemic has given way to COVID fatigue and anger, making it hard to implement public health measures
Rural hospitals can’t afford ultra-cold freezers to store the leading Covid-19 vaccine
The vaccine has to be stored at -70 degrees Celsius. Typical freezers don’t get that cold, making distribution of this vaccine a logistical nightmare.
COVID-19 Patients Swamp Rural Hospitals
The nation’s pandemic hotspots have shifted to rural communities, overwhelming small hospitals that are running out of beds or lack enough intensive care units.