Picture rural America: rolling hills, desert grasslands, wooded mountain slopes and beautiful farm fields. The images conjure up healthy living, but it turns out the exact opposite is true. Rural America is significantly sicker than urban America. Americans in rural areas are more likely to die from all types of chronic disease: diabetes, heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory disease, and cancer. They are also more likely to die from accidents, suicide, Alzheimer’s disease, and influenza/pneumonia. And if you thought living in the country kept you safe during the pandemic you are wrong. Rural Americans were more likely to be hospitalized and die from Covid-19.
Access to care, demographics and poverty are key factors. “Some of the folks I see have never had healthcare ever and they’re in their sixties,” says Dr. Michael Londner, Chairman of the Emergency Department at Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. “They come in and you say, do you have any history of high blood pressure, diabetes. They’re like, no. And they’re hypertensive their sugar’s 400.”
West Virginia, America’s third most rural state, is a microcosm of America’s rural health problems. “We have some of the poorest health numbers in the country, says Dr. James Nemitz, President at West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, one of three state supported medical schools. “We have challenges with broadband, challenges with transportation, challenges, with access to health care, challenges with clean water, challenges with, food and food deserts.
Picture rural America: rolling hills, desert grasslands, wooded mountain slopes and beautiful farm fields. The images conjure up healthy living, but it turns out the exact opposite is true. Rural America is significantly sicker than urban America. Americans in rural areas are more likely to die from all types of chronic disease: diabetes, heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory disease, and cancer. They are also more likely to die from accidents, suicide, Alzheimer’s disease, and influenza/pneumonia. And if you thought living in the country kept you safe during the pandemic you are wrong. Rural Americans were also more likely to be hospitalized and die from Covid-19.
Access to care, demographics and poverty are key factors. “Some of the folks I see have never had healthcare ever and they’re in their sixties,” says Dr. Michael Londner, Chairman of the Emergency Department at Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. “They come in and you say, do you have any history of high blood pressure, diabetes. They’re like, no. And they’re hypertensive their sugar’s 400.”
West Virginia, America’s third most rural state, is a microcosm of America’s rural health problems. “We have some of the poorest health numbers in the country, says Dr. James Nemitz, President at West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, one of three state supported medical schools. “We have challenges with broadband, challenges with transportation, challenges, with access to health care, challenges with clean water, challenges with, food and food deserts.
Rural Rx is an effort to look at those challenges, and at some of the solutions.
The series’ first piece examines the range of health issues in rural America through the prism of West Virginia. The second piece reports on the challenges pregnant women face in rural Alabama. In our third piece, we travel to Colorado to visit rural public health officials, who have come under attack in an increasingly politicized America. Our fourth piece takes us to South Texas, where we tackle a particularly pressing rural health problem: the significantly higher rates of obesity and diabetes in both children and adults. Rural Rx’s fifth segment examines substance abuse disorder in rural New York, and a National Institute of Health program that is trying to reduce deaths as overdose deaths are skyrocketing. The final piece in our series takes us back to West Virginia, where we look at the training of the next generation of rural doctors. And report on what is being done to develop and model best in class rural health programs.
The series is a collaboration of PBS NewsHour and the Global Health Reporting Center. The reporting is supported in part by the Pulitzer Center.
