Thanksgiving is recognized every fourth Thursday of November, but did you know that the third Thursday of the 11th month is Rural Health Day? This day is set aside to recognize the contributions of people who work in rural health care and highlight the unique challenges faced by rural communities.
“Rural health for Avera really comes down to our roots. That's where we began in the 1800s and that's what we do today. But why it's important now is our patients, our families, our communities depend on us to be there for them. Just like they take care of the land in our rural communities and our rural settings, we need to be there to take care of them,” said Kevin Post, DO Chief Medical Officer for Avera Health.
What are some of the biggest challenges that rural health care presents?
“Consistent challenges we've seen in rural health, number one is workforce. Finding people that who are willing to live in these small communities so they can be right there at the bedside when care needs happen in our clinics, in our hospitals and long-term care facilities. So workforce is number one. Transportation is also always a limiting factor. For sure here in the Midwest, where weather conditions can affect that ability, so being able to get our patients' care close to home, whether that's in person or virtually is very important to us at Avera. We need to get all of our services to them. Our primary care services, all of our specialists, subspecialists, and we can do that close to home. I think that's what's important and that is the challenge when you think of the span of our footprint,” said Dr. Post.
How is Avera working to improve rural health care?
“Top of mind for Avera is what I would call innovative care delivery models. So how do we think differently? What I mean by that is, virtual care. Avera has been doing this for well over 20 years now. That continues to be important, in bringing our specialists to the bedside via technology. As we also get into newer technologies such as artificial intelligence now, how can we support our caregivers by leveraging that technology to watch patients for fall prevention, to prevent secondary complications. So it's really enabling our colleagues who are delivering care within the rural communities to continue to do that and supporting them with the use of technology. So we're very excited for what we can do. We truly believe care close to home will only get better as we continue to leverage these new technologies,” said Dr. Post.
How does Avera ensure that accessibility to care is consistent?
“I think what's impressive about Avera is our commitment to be an integrated rural healthc are delivery network and what that means is that truly we are a system that will support each other at all levels of care; small communities and larger communities. So when you think about it, when you say rural, you think about a small town family physician or a clinical care team, but it is backed by all of our specialists within the system and then using that technology that we have discussed to deliver that care. So it is all of us working collectively together. So when we say integrated system, it means seamless technology, specialist and primary care providers working side by side to deliver the highest quality, best possible care in a convenient manner,” said Dr. Post.
What does rural health day mean for you?
“Rural health is very personal to me. I grew up in a small town of 300 people. I served as a local emergency medical technician years ago, right when I was out of high school and then as a rural family physician. So this hits close to home. I feel very blessed to be with a health system that remains committed to taking care of our friends and neighbors in these small rural communities. It's who I am and it's who I hope we always will be,” said Dr. Post.
Learn more about rural health care initiatives
