Background: Little is known about access to medicine among immigrant Latinos in the United States (US). This study explored access to, and use of, prescription drugs obtained from nonmedical sources among recently arrived, Spanish-speaking immigrant Latinos in rural North Carolina (NC). Methods: Our community-based participatory research…

Young adolescents, age 10-15 years, have increasing psychosocial and biomedical health care needs, yet are some of the lowest users of conventional health services. In eastern North Carolina, school-based health centers (SBHCs) provide primary health care to thousands of school-age children in the most rural, medically underserved areas. SBHCs…

Geographical, economic, social and cultural barriers to accessing services in rural areas are widely reported. Less widely discussed are dilemmas posed by individual and community reluctance to address sensitive health issues. This article, focusing on the highly sensitive area of mental health, and employing a participatory action approach,…

Context: The challenge of providing meaningful health care services to veterans living in rural communities is a major public health concern that involves redefining the traditional facility-based model of care delivery employed in urban areas. Purpose: This paper describes the steps of a demonstration project, the Elko Telehealth Outreach Clinic.…

This article is based on interviews carried out in rural communities in Canada and Wales with health care workers, educators, administrators and policymakers. The focus of the interviews was on assessing the perceived needs and available services for rural youth, either within their schools or within the immediate community. Various problems and…

Addresses and team reports from an inter-regional seminar which examined aspects of primary health care in China are presented. Background information about the seminar is given along with an introduction to rural health services in China. The report considers four key issues: China's three-level health care network; involvement of the people;…

One of the most neglected consumer groups has been the migrant and rural poor populations scattered through the farming regions of the country. The Colorado Migrant Health Program is a valuable means of providing primary health services to migrant farmworkers. (JN)

The Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) at Mississippi State University aims to stimulate the creation of new partnerships to enhance rural communities' capacity to address key health issues. In 1997, SRDC hosted a conference to develop the following: partnerships among land-grant universities, the health sector, and local citizens and…

PEOPLE LIVING IN RURAL AREAS HAVE ONLY ONE-HALF THE ACCESS PER PERSON TO DOCTORS, DENTISTS, AND OTHER HEALTH RESOURCES THAT URBAN DWELLERS HAVE. THIS IS COMPOUNDED BY--(1) THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE PATIENT AND THE HEALTH SERVICES, (2) LACK OF TRANSPORTATION, (3) LACK OF COMMUNICATION, AND (4) LACK OF HEALTH SERVICES, PERSONNEL, FACILITIES, AND…

The Maternal and Infant Health Outreach Worker Program (MIHOW) of Vanderbilt University's Center for Health Services gathered data on family planning, prenatal care, pregnancy outcomes, breastfeeding, and preventive child health care from 60 women in 6 rural, low income communities in Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The resulting baseline…

A case study was done of Black, Appalachian, and non-Appalachian White populations in the greater Cincinnati (Ohio) area to examine the health status, health maintenance activities, and sources of health and wellness information for each group in order to discern patterns of behavior that would form the basis for an effective health promotion…

Emphasizing primary care, this handbook focuses on the application of specific types of telecommunications technology to the process of information exchange within a rural health care system. Its purpose is to provide guidance to health care planners who want to consider the potential of telecommunications technology for improving quality,…

Summaries of 89 studies on rural health care (underway or recently completed) in the United States as of December 1976 are reported. Information on each study includes: title; principal researchers' names, addresses, and professions; major objectives of the research; methodology; findings (on completed research); financing organization; current…

In its 9th year of providing migrant health services through a U.S. Public Health Service Continuing Migrant Health Act grant, this Oregon Migrant Health Project annual report is concerned with (1) the health services provided during the 1970-71 harvest season through a contractual arrangement between the Oregon State Health Division and 10 county…

Intended to assist Agency for International Development officers, advisors, and health officials in incorporating health planning into national plans for economic development, this ninth of ten manuals in the International Health Planning Methods series contains eight papers dealing with the integration of community health concerns into…