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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Community engagement and volunteerism

Using Community Health Workers and Volunteers to Reach Complex Needs Populations
A recorded webinar that discusses how to integrate community health workers (CHWs) and volunteers into the healthcare system to care for complex patients in hard-to-reach areas. Includes a case study from rural Montana about collaborating with volunteers to help socially isolated patients access community resources and social services.
Date: 04/2017
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Care Strategies
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Report on Lessons Learned from Rural Opioid Overdose Reversal Grant Recipients
Presents lessons learned from the recipients of the Rural Opioid Overdose Reversal (ROOR) Program grants. The ROOR Program was piloted by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) in 2015 and seeks to combat the opioid crisis at the local level. Report also shares resources designed to assist other rural organizations and documents the impact of the pilot year program. Provides background information on each of the 18 original grant recipients and their programs.
Date: 04/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
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Combatting the Opioid Epidemic with Provider and Public Education
Highlights from a conversation with Fred Wells Brason II, discussing community-based efforts to reduce opioid misuse and abuse in rural communities. Brason helped found Project Lazarus in Wilkes County, North Carolina, which reduced the overdose rate in Wilkes County by 72 percent over three years. The Project Lazarus model has since spread to more than 20 states and focuses on cross-sector collaboration, public and provider education, and increasing access to treatment.
Citation: Transforming Care: Reporting on Health System Improvement
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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Building a Community of Practice in Rural Medical Education: Growing Our Own Together
Describes the history of rural training track residency programs in the United States since 1986 and the growth of a healthy community of practice in rural medical education.
Author(s): Randall Longenecker, David Schmitz
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 17(1), 4195
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
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Thinking "Bigger" About Smaller Places: Why Rural Health Planning is Critical to Successful Rural Collective Impact Approaches
Video of a speech by the president and CEO of the Rural Policy Research Institute. Presented as part of the Rural Health Lecture Series at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina and co-sponsored by the South Carolina Office of Rural Health. Explores how rural health is affected by social determinants of health, such as availability of safe housing, employment opportunities, and healthy food.
Author(s): Charles W. Fluharty
Date: 03/2017
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organizations: Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, South Carolina Office of Rural Health
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Regional Transportation Planning Organization Peer Exchange Summary
Summarizes a September 2016 peer learning exchange of eleven rural regional transportation planning representatives. Discusses the role of rural clinics and senior centers as gathering places for public engagement related to transportation. Describes public health involvement in safety planning, with Eagle County, Colorado as an example.
Author(s): Carrie Kissel
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Development Organizations
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Engaging Tribal Nations of North Dakota in Conducting Community Health Assessments
Outlines the purpose and process of conducting a community health assessment (CHA) for Native American communities. Covers tribal public health policy and governance, community engagement in CHAs, steps for planning a CHA, working with data, and preparing a tribal community health improvement plan.
Date: 01/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: American Indian Public Health Resource Center, North Dakota Department of Health
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A Community-Developed, Culturally-Based Palliative Care Program for African American and White Rural Elders with a Life-Limiting Illness: A Program By The Community for the Community
Describes the development of a culturally-based palliative care program in Beaufort, South Carolina. Discusses different preferences for care between African American and White focus group participants, such as the involvement of family members and the role of hospice and palliative care.
Author(s): Ronit Elk
Citation: Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, 7(1), 36-40
Date: 2017
Type: Document
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Decolonizing Knowledge Development in Health Research Cultural Safety Through the Lens of Hawaiian Homestead Residents
Highlights a study on the concept of cultural safety as a means of conducting effective health research within Native Hawaiian communities. Focuses on practices that facilitate cross-cultural respect and understanding.
Author(s): Lana Sue I. Ka'opua, Suresh Tamang, Adrienne Dillard, B. Puni Kekauoha
Citation: Journal of Indigenous Social Development, 5(2), 20-42
Date: 2017
Type: Document
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Engaging Rural Residents in Patient-Centered Health Care Research
Describes the process of engaging rural patients and caregivers to explore and understand rural perspectives surrounding the patient-centered medical home model. Discusses engagement efforts and lessons learned from analyzing rural residents' engagement in healthcare research.
Author(s): Michelle Levy, Cheryl Holmes, Amy Mendenhall, Whitney Grube
Citation: Patient Experience Journal, 4(1), 46-53
Date: 2017
Type: Document
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