RHIhub has a new Evidence-based Toolkit on Mental Health in Rural Communities. Developed in collaboration with the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis and the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center, this toolkit is designed to help rural organizations create and maintain sustainable mental health programs.
Join the upcoming RHIhub webinar, Addressing the Burden of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Rural America, in partnership with the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, on March 14th. Featured speakers include:
- Former Governor Ronnie Musgrove, JD, Committee Chair for the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
- Antonello (Tony) Punturieri, MD, PhD, Program Director, Division of Lung Diseases, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Kathleen Dalton, PhD, Retired Research Faculty, Department of Health Policy and Administration, University of North Carolina’s School of Public Health
- Grace Anne Dorney Koppel, MA, JD, President, Dorney-Koppel Foundation
RHIhub is hosting a Twitter Chat on Rural Health Workforce Education and Training on March 18th, where they will be joined by expert co-hosts:
- Steve Hirsh, Program Analyst, Policy Research Division, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy
- Tracey Smith, Public Health Analyst, Division of Medicine and Dentistry, Bureau of Health Workforce
- Davis Patterson, PhD, Director, Collaborative for Rural Primary Care Research, Education, and Practice (Rural PREP) and Research Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington
- Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPH, Director, Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care
Everyone is welcome to participate in the chat. Questions are posted online, so you can prepare in advance!
There are two new articles in the Rural Monitor:
- Rural Patients with Chronic Disease: A Nonprofit Organization and a Health Department Leverage Federal Funding to Provide Health Education and Care Coordination – Leveraging FORHP community-based funding to show rural communities the “direction to health”: an Alabama nonprofit organization and a North Carolina rural health department demonstrate how faith-based curricula and remote patient monitoring provide health education to prevent or self-manage chronic disease.
- Peer Support Specialists Care for and Connect Rural Behavioral Health Clients – Peer support specialists in rural Arizona, Michigan, and North Dakota share the challenges and successes they see in their communities.
There are also two new Models and Innovations:
- Collaborative Approaches to Well-Being in Rural Communities – The Hogg Foundation has awarded grants to support five rural Texas communities in developing mental health collaboratives that best fit each community’s needs.
- New Horizons Geriatric Counseling Program – Motivated by the suicide deaths of 5 local senior men over a 2-year period, Yoakum Community Hospital, Yoakum, Texas, created an outpatient behavioral health program coordinating the efforts of the CAH staff, medical staff, and community residents in order to deliver local treatment.
Finally, if you missed the Rural Philanthropy webinar from this past week, a recording is available online. This webinar includes strategies for rural communities to build partnerships with philanthropies, explores the new Rural Philanthropy toolkit and how it can assist in these efforts. It also features insights from Alycia Bayne, from the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis, and from two rural organizations discussing their experience with building philanthropy partnerships.