The article describes North Carolina's precedent setting Office of Rural Health Services, its background and design, and its significant role in the development of primary health care clinics such as that in Balsom Grove which is staffed by a family nurse practitioner and enjoying wide community support. (SB)

Supports renewed funding of the Appalachian Regional Commission's (ARC) "finish-up health plan" and "highway finish-up program." Discusses at length the need for primary care services, prevention of infant mortality, and the lack of physicians in Appalachia, and how the ARC plans can affect these needs. (LC)

Student health professionals, working as assistants to communities with serious health care problems, helped develop the Shuqualak health center in an area with the highest infant mortality rate in the United States. Describes the Community Technical Assistance Program and the history of the Shuqualak project. (SB)