The Rural Health Voice

With everyone concerned about spreading COVID, when should you wear a mask?  Wendy Welch, Executive Director of the Southwest Virginia Graduate Medical Education Consortium discusses PPE – Personal Protective Equipment. Mask making instructions: 100 Million Mask Challenge How to extend the life of a N95: Directions If you have items to donate, contact: kcollins@vrha.org More COVID-19 resources can...

How do you separate COVID facts from COVID fiction?  Andrew Luskin, Epidemiologist for the Virginia Rural Health Association joined the Rural Health Voice to share information that will help you make good decisions. VRHA has a wide variety of resources for COVID-19 on our website.  Just go to vrha.org and click the buttons on the main page. You may also be interested in a review of what has been d...

What’s 29 feet long and brings autism services to rural Virginia?  Angela Scarpa, Director of the Virginia Tech Autism Clinic & Center for Autism Research, and Jennifer Bertollo, a doctoral student clinician joined me to discuss the Mobile Autism Clinic . RHV No 32 – Autism Services, To Go! Aired 3-20-2020 (PDF)  

What does a football reporter know about drug overdoses?  Giles County, Virginia native Lauren Sisler from ESPN joined me to talk about her journey from denial to acceptance to advocacy.   Ms. Sisler will be the keynote speaker at the Appalachian Communities Opioid Response Summit , May 12 in Huntington, WV.

Who receives higher quality healthcare information – rural or urban?  Megan Leimkuhler , UVA pre-medicine student and winner of the 2019 Rural Health Voice poster contest, joined RHV host Beth O’Connor to discuss how people access information about their health. View Ms. Leimkuhler’s winning entry. If you want to be part of the conversation about rural health, follow the Virginia Rural...

What is happening in Richmond to make sure Virginia’s rural communities have access to broadband?  Evan Feinman, the Governor’s Chief Broadband Advisor joined me to talk about what is being done and how you can help. If you want to promote broadband expansion in Virginia’s rural communities, here are actions you can take: Join the Commonwealth Connect Coalition Contact your local county Board of S...

What are the ups and downs of being a physician in a rural community?  Dr. Sandra Balmoria of the Eastern Shore Rural Health System joined me to discuss why she returned to the Eastern Shore after living and working in Northern Virginia.  She was the winner of the Virginia Rural Health Association Charles Crowder, Jr. Award – This award is given annually by the Virginia Rural Health Association to...

What are rural ambulance services doing to reduce unnecessary visits to the emergency room?  Tim Perkins, CHaTR Division Manager, Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services reviews how Community Paramedicine/Mobile Integrated Healthcare can improve access. The Rural Health Voice will be taking a break to host our annual conference and enjoy the holidays; we will be back in January.  Until 2020,...

How can Community Health Workers be used to improve Chronic Care Management?  Kenya Elliott, Community Care Coordinator, at Piedmont Access to Health Services and Amanda Young, Program Manager from the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research discuss how their program is helping people in their community maximize their health outcomes If you want to be part of the conversation about rural heal...

Can improved high school graduation rates lead to better health in a community?  Shani Gaylord and Jasmine Smith from the Virginia Department of Health’s Youth Health Equity Leadership Institute joined the Rural Health Voice to talk about how YHELI is improving health through helping students.  Shani and Jasmine will be session leaders at the Rural Health Voice conference in November.

Can community organizations have a role in addressing health issues for a community?  Ashley Reynolds Marshall joined me to discuss how the YWCA of Central Virginia is doing exactly that. If you want to be part of the conversation, join Ashley and the other session leaders at the Rural Health Voice conference in November.

What comes to your mind when some one says “rural?”  What does “rural” mean to you?  Dr. Laura Hunt Trull, Social Worker and Assistant Professor at James Madison University shared her thoughts on the way we talk about rural and how we can change the narrative. You can hear more from Dr. Trull at the upcoming Rural Health Voice Conference – AND – if you are a student in any health professions or pu...

What do communities need to attract employers? And what does that have to do with health?  Travis Staton, President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of Southwest Virginia discusses their method of improving health in the region through a Cradle to Career approach. If you want to hear more from Travis and be part of the conversation about rural health, join the Rural Health Voice Conferenc...

What help is available for someone who wants to be a healthcare provider in rural Virginia?  Olivette Burroughs, Health workforce specialist with the Virginia Department of Health, Office of Health Equity joined me to provide information on the variety of programs available . Olivette will be leading one of the nine interactive discussions on rural health issues at the Rural Health Voice Conferenc...

Do lawmakers in DC want to hear from people at the local level?  Brock Slabach, Vice President of Member Services at the National Rural Health Association joined me to talk about effective ways to communicate with your member of Congress, get involved, break down silos, and work together to improve rural health. Brock will be the keynote speaker at the Rural Health Voice conference November 20 &#3...

What happens after someone finishes medical school?  Dr. Maurice Nida, Designated Institutional Officer at Lonesome Pine Hospital Family Practice joined me to discuss how training in rural communities means learning to do more for your patients. If your hospital or clinic wants to recruit a physician that has been trained in Southwest Virginia, join Dr. Nida and his residents October 18 at Breaks...

What can you do to make sure tax dollars and other resources are allocated to your community?  Join my conversation with Dr. Carah Ong Whaley, Associate Director at the James Madison University Center for Civic Engagement .  Undercounted is underfunded, under represented, and under resourced.  The 2020 Census is your opportunity to make sure everyone counts! Virginia Complete Count Commission US C...

  What’s the opposite of addiction? Jason Prichard, Community and Coalition Engagement Specialist for Ballad Health discussed how people recovering from addiction can be successful.  Read his full recovery testimony (https://vrha.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/JP-testimony.pdf).  Certification to be a Peer Recovery Specialist is available through the Virginia Certification Board (https://www.vacer...

  May is Mental Health Month. Does your community have a plan to support people with mental illness and substance abuse disorders? Kevin Martone, Executive Director, of the Technical Assistance Collaborative (http://www.tacinc.org/) joined RHV to discuss how behavioral health can be addressed at the community level. Mr. Martone mentioned the need for telehealth to support behavioral health service...

How fast is your broadband? Arthur Scott, Associate Legislative Director and Political Outreach Manager for the National Association of Counties (https://www.naco.org/) and native of Scott County, Virginia talked to me about the TestIT app (https://www.naco.org/testit) NACo has to map broadband speed in rural America. If you want to be part of the conversation about rural health, and you are a stu...

  Virginia has 725,000 Veterans across the state, many of which live in our rural communities. Who speaks for them? RHV talked with Carlos Hopkins, Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs (https://www.vada.virginia.gov/). Contact the Virginia Department of Veterans Services (https://www.dvs.virginia.gov/) if you want to help a Veteran in your community. If you want to be part of the con...

  If someone swallows something that you think might be dangerous, do you call 911 or Poison Control? Kristin Wenger, Education Coordinator from the Blue Ridge Poison Center (https://med.virginia.edu/brpc/) joined the Rural Health Voice to help you determine which is best. No matter where in the US you are, 1-800-222-1222 is the number to call. National Poison Prevention Week is March 18-24. Celeb...

  Do you understand all of the information your doctor gives you? Are you sure? Dr. Erin Cruise, Associate Professor at the Radford University School of Nursing joined me to discuss this unique barrier to healthcare access.   Health Literacy video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGtTZ_vxjyA).

  What’s the difference between equality and equity? Dr. Lauren Powell, Director of the Virginia Department of Health, Office of Health Equity (http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/health-equity/) joined me to talk about how giving everyone the same thing is not as good as giving everyone what they need. If you want to learn more about resources available to your community, check out the Virginia State Off...

  Do churches have a responsibility for the physical health of their members? Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III a community organizer, social entrepreneur and Senior Pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church joined The Rural Health Voice to discuss how churches and other members of the faith based community can address health on a very local level. Links: Black Church Food Security Network (http://www.blackc...