Critical health issues in rural Ohio will be on the examining table Friday during an event to raise awareness of the issues and to celebrate the strides taken to overcome them.
The Appalachian Rural Health Institute at Ohio University will host the event for Ohio’s first celebration of the annual National Rural Health Day Friday in the Bobcat Student Lounge of Baker University Center from 12 to 3 p.m. Friday.
Gov. John Kasich joined 35 other governors to recognize the day in their respective states, said Teryl Eisinger, director of the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health.
The event will feature speakers, representatives from the Ohio Office of Rural Health, a panel to answer questions and free food, said Tina Turner, director of the office.
“It’s about taking time out, celebrating the idea that rural is important, that rural needs are different, that state and national policies need to recognize rural,” said Jane Hamel-Lambert, director of the OU Appalachian Rural Health Institute. “That somebody’s got to champion the rural voice to make sure rural areas are represented.”
Hamel-Lambert heads the Ohio University organization that identifies and addresses health issues that afflict rural communities. Originally established to develop a diabetes program in the region, the institute has expanded to investigate other health hurdles rural residents may face.
The institute’s projects include studies in tobacco quitting products, support for pregnant women to lower the incidence of low birth weights, HIV testing, disease screening rates and food insecurity in relation to cancer rates, among others, Hamel-Lambert said.
While health issues in rural Appalachia may be similar to those of the rest of the nation, they may be augmented by the culture of the region, and by residents’ circumstances, Hamel-Lambert said.
Another critical difference is how they are addressed.
While 20 percent of the population in the U.S. lives in a rural area, just 10 percent of these have a primary healthcare provider, Eisinger said.
“Because it is difficult to recruit primary care providers to rural areas, there are disproportionately less practicing in rural areas than in urban ones,” she added.
As a result, barriers to accessing care play a major role in the health issues that Appalachian Ohioans face, Hamel-Lambert said.
Although the institute does not provide healthcare to patients, it works to support research that deals with rural health.
To do so, the institute builds connections within the community and with other research institutions, while also providing educational resources, Hamel-Lambert said.
The institute hopes to educate not only rural community members, but state and federal legislators as well, she said.
“Some legislation that gets passed on a national scale just doesn’t translate down to the rural level and it ends up inadvertently challenging or penalizing people in rural communities,” Hamel-Lambert said.
Poverty is a “formidable determinant” in rural health challenges, but by no means the only one. Genetics, parenting, food access, lack of access to preventative care and inadequacies in schools also play a role, Hamel-Lambert said.
“A structure like ours should, if we do it well, bridge the academic agenda of doing research that helps to understand the condition, how it comes to be and determining what we can do to improve the lives of the people,” Hamel-Lambert said. “But we also want to actually improve the lives of the people.”
af116210@ohiou.edu
