Rural Health in Miami?

   The SCRHRC was at the annual NRHA meeting in glamourous, non-rural Miami, among narcolords (presumably) and TV stars (confirmed sightings).   Lots of hard work, with presentations by several SC RHRC staffers  In the photos , Jessica presenting on part of her dissertation research, along with Kevin and Graham Adams (RUN chair) discussing some innovative EHR network activity in South Carolina.

   SCRHRC alumni were present, as well, including former Director and current Expert Work Group member Mike Samuels, and former staffer Andy Johnson.

   Not all was hard work, though.  Note Jessica illustrating the absolute hell that constitutes being a postdoc for Jan & Amy, while Dr. Martin experiments with buoyancy devices in one of the Fountainbleu pools.    

   

SCORH at Hilton Head

The SCRHRC sent Jessica & Jan to the annual meeting of the South Carolina Office of Rural Health. Jessica presented part of her dissertation work, looking into perceived racism and distrust of the healthcare system. Amy could not attend, but was represented by posters created by students in her rural health course.  

   As would be anticipated given the times, many of the s

essions (and most of the plena

ries) dealt with financial issues, such as stimulus money flows and the outlook for South Carolina Medicaid.  But there were lighter moments, including a barbeque dinner at Honey Horn plantation.  The photo at right shows a bottle tree, a tradition brought over from Africa.  The light shining through the bottles attracts evil spirits, who are then captured in the bottle.  The picture of gnarled trees draped with Spanish moss has no historical significance; it's just pretty.  Ditto the picture of Carolina coastal marsh at sunset.

Discussing Frontier

   The SCRHRC (Jan) was in Albuquerque on Friday, April 24, for the first in a series of three public discussions of how "frontier" should be defined.  In attendance were several impassioned advocates for frontier interests, with a smattering of academics (us).  Gary Hart, guru of RUCAs and other rural measures, chaired the meeting.

   The most interesting comment was offered by Denise Denton, former NRHA president.  She noted that many on the advocacy side of the discussion were arguing from the assumption that an inclusive definition of frontier was a good thing under all circumstances.  Denise offered a thought experiment:  would you want an inclusive definition if, for example, regulations were passed that required all Federal prisons to be located in frontier counties?

   Potential consensus on a definition structure, first voiced by Denise and more fully expressed by Tom Morris, ORHP administrator, seemed to focus on a "frontier and..." concept.  "Frontier" could be defined geographically.  Eligibility for USDA and ORHP programs, a concern of many present, could be addressed by the "and":  "...and high unemployment" for economic development, or "...and 75 miles from a hospital."  The "frontier and..." or even "rural and..." structure could allow for communities with particular problems to have those problems considered, without conflating geographic and programmatic considerations.

   All in all, a challenging task!  Gary & John Cromartie (USDA) will really be working hard over the next year.

 

Worrying about South Carolina wildfires

   There's something unnerving about arriving in a city halfway across the country (Albuquerque, in this case) and learning that something awful is happening back home.  Reportedly, a wildfire has by now destroyed 70 homes, damaged more, and affected a considerable swath of coastal Horry County.  The distress experienced by those families is significant, and there are other reasons for concern about fires.

   While Horry County may not technically be rural, it is an important employer for rural persons in South Carolina, who often commute long distances to work in the huge coastal tourist industry.   South Carolina's unemployment rate at its highest levels since the early 1980s and the economy leads experts to predict shortfalls in pleasure travel for the coming tourist season. Overall human costs could spread beyond those families unfortunate enough to have been in the direct path of the fire.

    There is also a "critter cost."  Not many people outside of South Carolina know about the "Carolina Bays," mentioned in the news feeds as a source of peat and other vegetation that kept the fire burning and make it difficult to extinguish.  The Bays are not offshoots of the ocean, but shallow depressions scattered across the landscape that form mini-wetlands; a rich and unique feature of the Carolina landscape.  [For more information, see http://www.dnr.sc.gov/managed/heritage/lewisbay/description.htmlor http://www.srel.edu/outreach/edpubs/carolinabays.html]  While the Bays evolved experiencing periodic fires, bulldozers creating firebreaks are not something the trees & critters are prepared for.  

Bringing Rural to Social Work

Jan and Saundra were guest speakers at the College of Social Work seminar on Friday, April 17.  Saundra's presentation focused on the many activities of the USC Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities, with particular attention to the community based participatory research projects surrounding HPB and HIV in the rural Orangeburg, SC community.  CBPR was catnip to an audience of social work faculty!  Jan focused on the recent work of the SCRHRC from Health Disparities: A Rural-Urban Chartbook.  Numbers are a harder sell for that particular discipline, unless their focus is very macro social work.  But there is a need for all of our gifts.  

Congrats to Saundra Glover

We're delighted to report that the SCRHRC's Associate Director, Dr. Saundra Glover, has been recognized by the Black Faculty and Student Association at the University of South Carolina.  At the April 15 awards luncheon, Dr. Glover received the Affirmative Action Award of the BFSA, for her role in promoting meaningful job opportunities for minority faculty, staff, and students.  In the photo:  Dr. Rodrick Moore, President of the BFSA; Dr. Glover; Dr. Harris Pastides, President of the University.  Go Saundra!

Thanks to our Researcher-User Network!

We had our first phone meeting of our Researcher-User Network group yesterday.  Many thanks to all participants! We are enormously grateful to this talented group of individuals who are willing to work with the SCRHRC to ensure that our research is a] helpful to rural practitioners, and b] reaches the persons who can benefit from our findings most effectively.  These folks are both generous and terrific:

     Graham Adams, PhD CEO of the South Carolina Office of Rural Health and past president of the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health

     Patrick (Pat) Libbey, immediate past executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials  

     Roberta (Bobbi) Ryder, CEO of the National Center for Farmworker Health, Inc. 

     Robert Graham, MD, Professor at the Department of Family Medicine, University of Cincinnati 

     Maya Rockeymoore, PhD, Director of Program Leadership, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

     [Catherine Hess, Senior Program Director at the National Academy for State Health Policy, couldn't make the phone call, but we hope to meet her soon!]

Jan