rural health

(Runtime 3:49) By Rachel Sun and Susan ShainEditor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, support is available by calling or…

(Runtime 0:56)Idaho currently has about 9,000 unfilled health care positions, according to a report by the Idaho Business for Education.In that report,…

Rural America has been the site COVID hotspots this year: prisons, nursing homes and meat packers. But there are few doctors, ICU beds and little backup when health care workers also get sick. Ken Roberts died Nov. 29, just one person among many who died in an outbreak of COVID-19 at North Valley Extended Care in the Okanogan County town of Tonasket — population about 1,000. So far, at least 16 people at the facility have died since Thanksgiving.

The agency serves areas where private carriers won't go. And in those remote communities, which helped elect the president, the Postal Service can be seen as a lifeline as well as a human connection.

Rural "critical access" hospitals, often some of the largest employers in small towns, have been operating on razor-thin margins throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Hospitals in Washington are starting to act on the permission given them by Gov. Jay Inslee to resume non-essential medical procedures. Some may begin work by or before next week.

Nine rural hospitals in Washington from Forks to Omak to Republic have new shipments of hospital masks, thanks to the organization that advocates for them in Olympia. And that organization’s CEO is getting a big kick out of the whole thing.

Fewer than a third of the 220 counties deemed by the federal government as vulnerable to similar outbreaks have active syringe exchange programs which can stop the spread of the infection.

State regulators and even one medevac company have raised doubts about prepaid subscriptions and promised benefits offered by air ambulance companies. Gaps in coverage can be a problem.

Advances in online tech are revolutionizing health care, with patients now emailing doctors, filling prescriptions or even getting therapy via a video session. But what if you can't afford broadband?