(Salt Lake
City, UT) – Utah’s rural communities are great places to live and work, but in
some cases, residents have a hard time getting to the doctors and clinics they
need for health care. Some must drive
more than an hour to find a physican or clinic. But according to Dr. Don Wood,
the care they get when they arrive is as good as that in the big cities. “Rural medical providers offer exceptional
care which is equal to care that can be found in larger metropolitan areas,”
says Wood.
Approximately
62 million people―one in five Americans―live in rural areas, and on Thursday,
November 21, state and national leaders will spotlight the importance of rural
health by observing National Rural Health Day.
In Utah, Governor Gary Herbert will name November 17-23 as Rural Health
Week in Utah. The designation is meant
to reinforce a broad-based, deep-seated commitment from all sectors to improve
access, and the quality of health care
for rural Utahns.
As part of
Rural Health Week, the Utah Office of Primary Care and Rural Health (OPCRH) is
holding a photo contest. Entries should
share visually what “rural” means to you. Submissions will be judged on
creativity, originality, photo quality, and the picture’s overall appeal. Photos must be original and taken during
2013. Prizes will be given for 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd place. Entries may be e-mailed
to Owen Quiñonez at opcrh@utah.gov by November 19, 2013. Winners will be notified by December 2, 2013
and winning photos will be posted on the OPCHR website at http://health.utah.gov/primarycare.
All 50
states maintain a State Office of Rural Health (SORH) to foster relationships,
disseminate information, and provide technical assistance that improves access
to, and quality of, health care for its rural citizens.
As Utah’s
SORH, the Utah Office of Primary Care and Rural Health (OPCRH) contributes
$540,000 in grants to rural health organizations to help residents access primary care, mental health and dental
services. This funding enables rural health care providers to serve Utahns in
small communities, which comprise 95% of the state’s land mass. Additionally,
OPCRH provides more than $150,000 in Small Hospitals Improvement Program (SHIP)
grants to rural hospitals to support projects to improve health care in their
communities.
For more
information about National Rural Health Day, visit www.celebratepowerofrural.org. To learn more about the National Organization of State Offices of
Rural Health (NOSORH), visit www.nosorh.org.
And for more information about the Utah Office of Primary Care and Rural
Health, visit http://health.utah.gov/primarycare/.
# # #
Media
Contact:
Owen
Quiñonez
Community
Health Specialist
(801)
273-6620
