Residents Share Visions of Rural Health to Mark National Rural Health Day
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — What is your vision for rural health in Massachusetts?
The Massachusetts Office of Rural Health is looking to find out from residents from all across the state, from the tip of Cape Cod to North Adams, where Kirby Lecy, the office's outreach and communications coordinator, visited last week in advance of National Rural Health Day this Thursday, Nov. 19.
Lecy visited the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition monthly forum on Friday to share that the National Organization of State Offices of Rural sets aside the third Thursday of every November to celebrate National Rural Health Day. According to its website, "National Rural Health Day is an opportunity to 'Celebrate the Power of Rural' by honoring the selfless, community-minded, 'can do' spirit of that prevails in rural America. But it also gives us a chance to bring to light the unique healthcare challenges that rural citizens face – and showcase the efforts of rural healthcare providers, State Offices of Rural Health and other rural stakeholders to address those challenges."
The day will be marked nationally this year with a series of webinars, but locally, Lecy sought out local residents at the forum to share their visions by posing for pictures with a sign stating "My Vision for Rural Health in Massachusetts is..." with room for participants to write their thoughts underneath. Lecy said that through visits to forums around the state like the NBCC one she will develop a library of thoughts, so to speak, to be shared on social media and beyond, with the Twitter hashtags #powerofrural and #powerofruralma.
"We're hoping to use them more than just (this) week," she said. "We'll have this great collection of pictures of people who filled out signs."
On Friday in North Adams, some of the visions were "plenty of programs for disabilities, for all ages and all levels"; "LGBTQ-competent health care"; "'adult' playgrounds for seniors"; "all youth are involved in something bigger than themselves" and "a safe community where all children can thrive."
According to the website, approximately 62 million people – nearly one in five Americans – live in rural and frontier areas. While nearly 85 percent of U.S. residents can reach a Level I or Level II trauma center within an hour, only 24 percent of residents living in rural areas can do so within that time frame – this despite the fact that 60 percent of all trauma deaths in the United States occur in rural areas.
But health is more than just health care services, according to Lecy and the speakers who participated in the main part of Friday's forum, which focused on the health needs of the northern Berkshires. Lecy said her office advocates for rural health on a national level, especially politically, and that's why they wanted to hear what people had to say about the health needs of the community beyond just medical care.
"Understanding health is much more than your hospitals," she said.
Tags: health, health care, NBCC,
