First Rural Health Conference Includes Community Voices in Joint Deliberation
News Releases from UA on Rural Health Topics
Contact: Linda Jackson, (205) 348-1302
May 15, 2000
Tuscaloosa--The First Annual Alabama Rural Health Conference held recently (April 27-28) at The University of Alabama's Bryant Conference Center brought together nearly 300 people from rural communities, health agencies, and education to discuss rural health issues in this state. But the conference was more than just information-sharing. The conference was planned as the beginning of an ongoing discussion. "Our goal was to launch a continuing dialog that becomes the basis for creating partnerships to identify and solve issues of common concern by building on the strengths of all partners," said Dr. William Curry, Dean, UA College of Community Health Sciences, and Associate Dean for Rural Medicine, University of Alabama School of Medicine.
"The conference brought together--for the first time--representatives from rural communities, medicine, social work, nursing, education, hospitals, nursing homes, government, and private sector to discuss how to work together effectively in addressing rural health concerns," said John Wheat, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Community and Rural Medicine at The University of Alabama and University of Alabama School of Medicine, who chaired the Program Planning committee.
"Rural health is more than rural medicine," says Dr. Bob McKenzie of the Kettering Foundation, who helped plan the conference’s small group sessions facilitated by Extension Service County Agents. "How community residents see problems and how they relate to one another in engaging problems if they do not agree are critical factors. A healthy rural Alabama requires the capacity of rural residents and the professionals who seek to assist them to work together positively."
"Though the conference was initiated and hosted by The University of Alabama--College of Community Health Sciences; College of Human Environmental Sciences; Capstone College of Nursing; School of Social Work; and College of Continuing Studies--joint sponsors included the major "stakeholders" for health care in the state," said Dean Curry.
Co-sponsors for the conference were: Alabama Child Caring Foundation (which is set up by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama to provide health insurance for uninsured children); Alabama Cooperative Extension System at Auburn University; the state Department of Public Health; Alabama Family Practice Rural Health Board; Alabama Farm Federation; Alabama Health Network; Alabama Hospital Association; Alabama Office of Rural Health; Alabama Power Foundation; Alabama Primary Health Care Association; Alabama Rural Health Association; state Dept. of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; Alabama State Nurses Association; Assisted Living Facilities of Alabama; Medical Association of the State of Alabama; National Association of Social Workers (Alabama Chapter); Rural Alabama Health Alliance; and the UA School of Medicine -CME Division.
Nationally known speakers in the field of rural health were keynote speakers-- John W. Hatch, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Chapel Hill School of Public Health, and Wayne Myers, MD, Director of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy--but the conference focus on local issues was maintained through panel presentations by state and community resource people and breakout groups which discussed local concerns. "Status of Rural Health in Alabama: Reading Between the Lines" drew from statistical data, survey results, town meetings, and local interviews. Panel members were Doris Holeman, PhD, Tuskegee University (moderator); Martha Johnson, PhD, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Auburn University; Will Baker, EdD, State Director, Robert Wood Johnson Southern Rural Access Project; and Sherea Bowden, a UA Graduate Research Assistant and 1993 Rural Health Scholar.
Another session, moderated by Tracy Palmer, Director of "Covering Alabama Kids," featured leaders of community-based initiatives to improve health services. Erin Smith, a pharmacist from Pickens County, described the formation of RAHA (Rural Alabama Health Alliance), a grassroots organization formed to provide a rural voice in medical education and health policy discussions. Dr. Alesa Judd, Chair of Bibb County Child Caring Initiative, described the first local child health insurance project in Alabama to assure that every child in the county had insurance coverage and access to health care. Debbie Yerby, Chairman of Fayette County's KID's Net project, shared details of her community’s efforts to replicate Bibb County’s child health insurance initiative. Marty Rittman, Site Director for Coosa County's "Covering Kids" project, enumerated strategies for success in the rural community setting.
CCHS Dean William Curry concluded the conference by announcing UA's commitment to continue the work begun here. Post-conference follow-up deliberations in rural communities will be conducted jointly by communities, County Extension agents, UA, and Kettering Foundation to build the agenda for the next conference scheduled for April 26-27, 2001.
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