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Herkimer County HealthNet Celebrates the Power of Rural

November 11, 2011

 

Herkimer County HealthNet, Inc. will join with agencies across the country, including the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health, in celebrating the first annual National Rural Health Day and the Power of Rural on November 14, 2011.

 

National Rural Health Day was created to raise awareness of the unique circumstances of Rural America, by improving access to, and enhance the quality of, health care for America’s 61 million rural citizens.

 

Healthcare needs can’t be addressed through a “one size fits all” approach – because each community is different, programs and policies must be flexible enough to enable rural communities to identify and address the unique needs of their residents. Rural areas in each part of the country are unique – rural New York is not the same as rural Arizona or rural West Virginia. But that’s no different than urban parts of the country – southern California is not the same as southern Florida or southern Massachusetts.

 

Healthcare helps to drive many rural economies; rural hospitals are typically the economic foundation of their communities – every dollar spent on rural hospitals generates about $2.20 for the local economy, and Critical Access Hospitals, like Little Falls Hospital, care for a higher percentage of Medicare patients than other hospitals because rural populations are typically older than urban populations.

 

Herkimer County HealthNet, Executive Director Adam Hutchinson, “Herkimer County HealthNet’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of individuals who live, work, play, and learn in Herkimer County, and we’re thrilled to be able to help further the conversation about what makes this country’s rural areas special and the unique set of challenges they face.”

Learn more about National Rural Health Day at: http://celebratepowerofrural.org/

Contact:
Adam Hutchinson, Executive Director, Herkimer County HealthNet, (315) 867-1552 or
Alison J. Swartz, Coordinator of Creating Healthy Places grant initiative, (315) 867-1499