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What are rural areas?

Rural areas are not urban and they are of low-population. Rural communities are considered the country-side.

About 46 million citizens live in rural areas in the U.S. This causes challenges for Americans that live in these areas due to hospitals being closed down and basic healthcare being so far away. In this padlet I will explain the challenges they face and what is being done to help.

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With continued hospital closures, 30 million Americans do not live near any hospitals that have a trauma center. With ambulances taking a long period of time to arrive to the nearest hospital, this is life thearning to anyone in a rural population. From 1999 to 2015 the rate of accidental deaths was higher by 50% compared to urban areas. This creates a risk for the lives of many that are located in rural areas.

Many people who live in rural areas do not have insurance, have a low income, or do not have reliable transportation to make it to a hospital.

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Millions of Americans live nowhere near a hospital, jeopardizing their lives | CNN

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Sixteen percent of mainland America is 30 miles or more from a hospital.

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I chose this population because I have seen the consequences of hospital closures and medical help not being close by to those who are in need. A lot of people that live in rural areas have little income and cannot afford to pay for insurance, and do not have reliable transportation that would be able to take them to their doctors appointment if needed. This is the reason why this population would "fall into the cracks." A big reason to why I chose this population is because telehealth visits could be ideal, you would think, but rural areas have limited access to wifi, and this causes difficulty in progressing with telemedicine. These areas should have more attention on them, there are ways that could help patients receive the healthcare they need. Providers could do mobile care. This is currently more popular and helpful for patients, the doctors basically come to them.

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ncIMPACT | Mobile Health Care Comes to Rural Communities | Season 2023

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A mobile health program visits rural communities that lack easy access to health care.

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As described in Shi and Singh's Delivering Health Care in America, these are the three points that go along with vulnerability of rural populations.

1. Need-based characteristics: the real health issues or morbidity, what the population needs.

This is what rural areas in the U.S. need. There are higher rates of mortality and patients getting ill, it has been found that rural mortality rates are a lot higher than those in urban areas in almost all states in the U.S. (Morales, 2020). Residents of rural areas are at a higher risk to get chronic diseases, and they are not able to be treated the same as those in urban areas. In rural areas its residents are known to have higher rates of mental health disorders, but they are not able to receive the mental health care they need. These need-based characteristics show sus that rural populations usually have worse health than urban areas, they have more health needs that are not being met, and more challenges than we would ever know or experience.

2. Predisposing characteristics: these are social, demographic, and belief based points that influence a person's usage of health services.

In rural areas, there tends to be a lower educational level compared to urban areas. It is sad to say but these means that this population is usually a low income family and have a lower ability to navigate healthcare systems. This of course can affect them getting treatment for any health issues they may present (Orgera, 2023). In rural areas, there tends to be an older population and with age comes more health issues that have to be addressed and taken care of inorder for the patient to be healthy. Sometimes in these areas there are strong cultural or religious beliefs that stop people from getting the health care they need. This plays a big part in mental health services, there are a lot of cultural or religious beliefs that do not believe in therapy or mental health disorders (Shi, 2026).

3. Enabling characteristics: these are factors that prevent access to health care services.

The main cause of this in rural areas is lack of health insurance, physician shortages, and lack of hospitals and clinics. Residents of these areas do not or cannot have health insurance due to low-income. Insurance cover a small percentage or barley anything that the patient may need. They also have fewer hospitals and clinics than what we are used to and they have no way to get to teh nearest office. This limits their ability to get the health care they need, since the hospital closures have gone up so high (Gong et al., 2019).

References:

Gong, G., Phillips, S. G., Hudson, C., Curti, D., & Phillips, B. U. (2019, December). Higher us rural mortality rates linked to socioeconomic status, physician shortages, and lack of health insurance | Health Affairs Journal. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00722

Healthcare access in rural communities Overview - Rural Health Information Hub. Overview - Rural Health Information Hub. (2025a, July 17). https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/healthcare-access

Morales, D. A., Barksdale, C. L., & Beckel-Mitchener, A. C. (2020, May 4). A call to action to address rural mental health disparities. Journal of clinical and translational science. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7681156/

Orgera, K., By, Orgera, K., Analyst, L. R., Senn, S., Analyst, former, Grover, A., Director, E., & 27, Sept. (2023, September 27). Rethinking rural health. AAMC. https://www.aamc.org/advocacy-policy/rethinking-rural-health

Shi, L., & Singh, D.A. (2026). Delivering health care in the United States: A systems approach. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

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Tommy Tuberville Presses Experts On The Vulnerability Of Rural Communities To Cyberattacks

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Two very import initiatives that support rural areas are mobile clinics and telehealth visits. Telemedicine is very popular at the time and it has been used a lot more since COVID-19. Telehealth visits can help those in rural areas due to these residents not having the ability to drive to clinics or hospitals. This aligns with mobile clinics serving patient where there are no clinics near their homes. These mobile clinics will help more and more patients that have health conditions that need routine care, like diabetes, heart diseases, cancer, and many more.

The progress of telemedicine usage has increased dramatically over the years, this is convenient for anyone that is in rural areas.

The mobile clinics have increased as well and have helped patients keep up with important visits and test screenings (Iqbal et al., 2022).

Reference:

Iqbal, A., Anil, G., Bhandari, P., Crockett, E. D., Hanson, V. M., Pendse, B. S., Eckdahl, J. S., & Horn, J. L. (2022, September 22). A digitally capable mobile health clinic to Improve Rural Health Care in America: A pilot quality improvement study. Mayo Clinic proceedings. Innovations, quality & outcomes. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9500515/

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A Digitally Capable Mobile Health Clinic to Improve Rural Health Care in America: A Pilot Quality Improvement Study

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To address the problem of limited health care access for patients in rural southern Minnesota, a digitally capable mobile health clinic (MHC) quality improvement initiative was launched in a rural community-based health system. This project was…

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What I've Learned and A Little About The Similarities Between Rural and Migrant Farm Workers Populations. 

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What I've Learned and A Little About The Similarities Between Rural and Migrant Farm Workers Populations. 

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I have learned that rural areas need us. They have lived here their whole life and like I said before with age comes obstacles that have to be taken seriously. These residents usually have low-income and no insurance, this goes for migrant farm workers as well. Both these population amy fall into the cracks because of the place they come from. These are low-income families that work to survive and do not really have an option to take their health seriously because they cannot afford it. Migrant farmworker and residents of rural areas need advocates. They need the community itself to help each other or look for help. They need nurses, physicians, and therapists. They need hospitals that are nearby and clinics where they can their ruin exams and get the care they deserve.

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Unsettled: The Life of a Migrant Farmworker Family

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I know that I want to go into healthcare and I would love to help people that are in need as much as I can. If were to get a position at a good standing medical office I would love to advocate for more mobile clinics and try to grow that practice into rural areas to help others.

I know that how much you make at a job means a lot but there is an amazing feeling and satisfaction behind helping those that do not have the same means that you do. This is why i would for one love to advocate and help other especially in these populations when I start my career.

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Gong, G., Phillips, S. G., Hudson, C., Curti, D., & Phillips, B. U. (2019, December). Higher us rural mortality rates linked to socioeconomic status, physician shortages, and lack of health insurance | Health Affairs Journal. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00722

Gunja, M. Z. (2023, July 24). Rural Americans struggle with medical bills and Health Care Affordability. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2023/rural-americans-struggle-medical-bills-and-health-care-affordability

Healthcare access in rural communities Overview - Rural Health Information Hub. Overview - Rural Health Information Hub. (2025a, July 17). https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/healthcare-access

Iqbal, A., Anil, G., Bhandari, P., Crockett, E. D., Hanson, V. M., Pendse, B. S., Eckdahl, J. S., & Horn, J. L. (2022, September 22). A digitally capable mobile health clinic to Improve Rural Health Care in America: A pilot quality improvement study. Mayo Clinic proceedings. Innovations, quality & outcomes. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9500515/

Morales, D. A., Barksdale, C. L., & Beckel-Mitchener, A. C. (2020, May 4). A call to action to address rural mental health disparities. Journal of clinical and translational science. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7681156/

Ostroff, C., & Frisbie, C. B. (2017, August 3). Millions of Americans live nowhere near a hospital, jeopardizing their lives. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/health/hospital-deserts

Orgera, K., By, Orgera, K., Analyst, L. R., Senn, S., Analyst, former, Grover, A., Director, E., & 27, Sept. (2023, September 27). Rethinking rural health. AAMC. https://www.aamc.org/advocacy-policy/rethinking-rural-health

Shi, L., & Singh, D.A. (2026). Delivering health care in the United States: A systems approach. Jones & Bartlett Learning.