November, 2022: National Rural Health Day

SWTRC NEWSLETTER- NOVEMBER 2022

Bringing you up-to-date telehealth information resources on the southwest region and the USA

 

National Rural Health Day

National Rural Health Day is Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, an opportunity to “Celebrate the Power of Rural” by honoring the selfless, community-minded spirit that prevails in rural America. NRHD showcases the efforts of rural healthcare providers, State Offices of Rural Health, and other rural stakeholders to address the unique healthcare challenges that rural citizens face today and in the future. The National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) has tools, events, and additional information on how to celebrate National Rural Health Day on their website.
 
Resources
Arizona Center for Rural Health
Promotes the health of rural and medically underserved individuals, families, and communities in Arizona through service, education, and research. Houses the Arizona State Office of Rural Health.

Arizona Telemedicine Program
A large, multidisciplinary, university-based program that provides telemedicine services, distance learning, informatics training, and telemedicine technology assessment capabilities to communities throughout Arizona.

Small Rural Hospital Constituency Group
Small rural hospitals face different challenges, such as financial stability and the recruitment and retainment of top doctors and nurses. The small Rural Hospitals Constituency Group allows smaller hospitals to focus on issues specific to their rural communities and patients.
 
Funding
Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation Ken Kendrick Grand Slam Awards
Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation Grand Slam Awards support nonprofit organizations in Arizona that focus on indigent healthcare, youth development, homelessness, and other human services. Awards have been given to rural and tribal communities.

Arizona Vitalyst Health Foundation Spark Grants
The Vitalyst Spark program provides one-year grants to support collaborations in the journey to address systemic change in Arizona.

Arizona J-1 Visa Waiver Program
Offers a J-1 Visa waiver to foreign physicians who commit to serving for 3 years in an underserved area of Arizona, allowing them to remain in the United States.

Resources
Colorado Rural Health Center
Serves as the State Office of Rural Health (SORH) for Colorado. Offers members programs and services to ensure that rural communities have access to adequate healthcare.

Colorado Rural Health Center: 2021 Annual Report
Summary of the Colorado Rural Health Center's 2021 accomplishments. Focuses on work disseminating COVID-19 updates and work with hospitals, clinics, and EMS providers on quality, health information technology, policy, and workforce issues.

Community Partnerships: Advancing Behavioral Health Access in Rural Communities
Profiles Eagle Valley Behavioral Health (EVBH), a nonprofit and community mental health center (CMHC) developed to lead community collaboration working to ensure access to high-quality behavioral healthcare in Eagle County, Colorado. Discusses EVBH's collaboration with Building Hope Summit County, a community-wide initiative in a neighboring county focused on suicide prevention efforts. Describes how these initiatives were able to shape local policy, expand the local behavioral health workforce, fund their efforts, and identify and fill gaps in care.
 
Funding
Colorado Capital Infrastructure – Increasing Access to Care for Coloradans of Color
Funding for capital projects for safety net practices in Colorado that improve clinics' capacity to serve more Coloradans of color with team-based, comprehensive primary care.

Anschutz Family Foundation Grants
Grants to organizations in Colorado that work to strengthen families and communities and help individuals become productive and responsible citizens. In 2021, 45% of funding was dedicated to efforts in rural Colorado.

Resources
Nevada State Office of Rural Health
The Nevada State Office of Rural Health was established by the state legislature in 1977 to administer the delivery of healthcare services to rural and frontier areas in Nevada. It was also created to coordinate programs that would further enhance and improve healthcare access to rural communities, train healthcare providers, help finance healthcare services in areas of need and ensure a healthy Nevada. The office continues to build partnerships and strengthen its outreach in order to meet the healthcare needs of rural Nevadans.

Nevada State Office of Rural Health
Provides technical assistance activities to rural communities through workshops, dissemination of information, and recruitment and retention of health care practitioners. A program of the Office of Statewide Initiatives at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine and home to the Area Health Education Centers (AHECs), Flex and SHIP programs.

Nevada Rural Hospital Partners
An alliance of small and rural hospitals in Nevada. Designated Nevada Critical Access Network, providing services supporting the Nevada Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Nevada Flex Program).
 
Funding
Rural Nevada Healthcare Provider Loan Pool
A loan fund to support the cost of equipment, software, and capital improvements that improve access to healthcare in rural and frontier Nevada.

Nevada Health Service Corps
Loan repayment assistance for certain healthcare professionals who agree to practice in an underserved area of Nevada.

Resources
New Mexico Office of Primary Care and Rural Health
Works to improve access to quality healthcare for New Mexico by providing collaborative leadership and resources to healthcare and community organizations. A division of the Population and Community Health Bureau in the New Mexico Department of Health.

New Mexico Telehealth Alliance
The New Mexico Telehealth Alliance is dedicated to promoting telehealth solutions that deliver quality healthcare throughout the state. The NMTHA is a network of members representing a broad spectrum of public and private healthcare organizations. The NMTHA provides program support enabling members to effectively share resources.

New Mexico Association of Community Partners
Supports Community Action Agencies (CAAs) in New Mexico, which serve the most vulnerable populations in the state. Provides technical assistance, training, and supports community-based partnerships.
 
Funding
New Mexico Primary Care Capital Fund and Behavioral Health Capital Fund
Loans to help meet the capital needs of nonprofit primary care and behavioral health clinics located in rural and underserved areas of New Mexico.

New Mexico Broadband Program
The Connect New Mexico Pilot Program (“Pilot Program”) aims to bridge the digital divide and foster socioeconomic progress by providing infrastructure grants for broadband deployment to unserved and underserved communities across New Mexico.


Tribal
Resources
Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, American Indian Research Center for Health (AIRCH)
Encourages practical research to improve American Indian peoples' health status, as well as to increase the number of American Indians engaged in research within American Indian communities.

Wassaja Carlos Montezuma Center for Native American Health
Serves as a resource in health-related research and training for Native American communities nationwide.

Tribal Broadband: National Strategy and Coordination Framework Needed to Increase Access
Provides an overview of federal programs that support the deployment of broadband infrastructure on tribal lands and the extent to which federal agencies focus on tribal issues related to broadband access. Discusses barriers tribes and providers face in accessing these federally-funded programs. Providers recommendations for the Executive Office of the President and the Department of Commerce to address tribal needs and engagement in a national broadband strategy.
 
Funding
American Indian Nurse Scholarship Program
Scholarships for students of American Indian descent who are pursuing careers in nursing. Students are expected to work to improve health care for American Indian populations upon graduation.

Tribal Health Program Support
Technical assistance and training for tribes that provides public health information, advocacy tools, policy analysis, and health promotion and disease prevention programming with the goal of elevating the health status of tribal citizens.

Bloomberg Fellows Indigenous Scholars
Provides public health training, scholarships, and stipends for individuals who are currently working with organizations in the areas of adolescent health, addiction and overdose, environmental challenges, obesity and the food system, and violence. The program supports cohorts of Indigenous Scholars that are looking to use public health tools to address the most pressing issues in their communities.


National
Resources
Rural Community Assistance Corporation
Helps rural communities in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming improve community infrastructure through housing, water, and wastewater program initiatives. Offers numerous services including loans for housing and environment.
 
The National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers
The National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers (NCTRC) is dedicated to building sustainable telehealth programs and improving health outcomes for rural and underserved communities.
 
Funding
Community Facility Loans
Loans to help develop and improve essential community facilities in the rural West.

National Network of Libraries of Medicine Region 4 Grants
National Network of Libraries of Medicine Region 4 Grants provide funding for projects in the midcontinental region that improve health literacy; increase the ability of the general public to find and use health information; or improve health professionals' access to, awareness of, and skills for locating high quality biomedical and health information.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Research on Barriers to Care and Risk of HIV-Associated Comorbidities among Vulnerable Population Groups
Notice of Special Interest for research that analyzes barriers to care and risk of HIV-associated comorbidities among disproportionally vulnerable and affected population groups of people living with or at risk for HIV infection.

Rural Communities Opioid Response Program - Overdose Response
The Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) - Overdose Response program will provide grants to support immediate responses to the overdose crisis in rural areas through improving access to, capacity for, and sustainability of prevention, treatment, and recovery services for substance use disorder.

Rural Health Network Development Planning Program
An opportunity to apply for funding under the Rural Health Network Development Planning Program (“Network Planning Grant”). The purpose of the Network Planning Program is to promote the planning and development of integrated health care networks to address the following legislative aims: (i) achieve efficiencies; (ii) expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services and associated health outcomes; and (iii) strengthen the rural health care system. This program supports one year of planning and brings together key parts of a rural health care delivery system, particularly those entities that may not have collaborated in the past, to establish and/or improve local capacity to strengthen rural community health interventions and enhance care coordination.

National Rural Health Day 2022 Event: Carpool Collaboration: Conversations with Mission-Minded Rural Stakeholders

This National Rural Health Care Day event will feature panelists sharing stories about rural health and collaboration on Nov. 17, 2022. 2 p.m. ET. Registration open.

The Southwest Telehealth Resource Center serves Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and the Four Corners Region. 
 

====================================
See the SWTRC blog for original, timely, and interesting content about telemedicine and telehealth

Visit SouthwestTRC.org for telehealth toolkits, resources and to contact us!

View previous SWTRC Newsletters: 
https://southwesttrc.org/resources/covid19/covid19-newsletters

Questions, comments, ideas?
Reach out to Mari Herreras at mherreras@telemedicine.arizona