Providing affordable access to quality healthcare remains a challenge that our country must address from a national perspective as well as a local one. While this is prevalent in even the most well-developed urban areas, rural communities struggle with a collection of additional, unique challenges when it comes to providing and receiving care.
Data shows that individuals who live in rural areas are more likely to live in areas that do not have primary care providers immediately accessible. They also must travel longer distances on average to reach medical services and appointments. We are grateful that myriad nonprofits, healthcare providers, technology firms, government agencies and business partners are joining together to try and identify solutions that ensure every individual and family can access the care they need when they need it, regardless of their physical address.
To help shed light on these efforts and to bring some of the specific issues and challenges facing rural communities to light, the Murdock Trust has partnered with Ruralite Magazine for a special project spanning all of 2019. Over the next 12 months, we will dive into the various challenges facing rural communities regarding healthcare as well as the nonprofits, businesses, government partners and community groups that are bringing innovative, sustainable solutions to solve them. You can see the first story in this series detailing how robotics and technology helped save a newborn life online as well as in the video above.
We are excited to bring this series of impactful stories to you in the coming months and we look forward to continuing to partner with nonprofits working to solve these complex problems as well as participating in the discussion surrounding the best ways to ensure that all individuals, families and communities can flourish and thrive.
