Lexington VA Health Care System

Rural Health providers hearing lecture at Rural Health Institute

 About 3 million of America’s Veterans receiving care in VA hospitals live in rural areas.  For a number of reasons, these rural Veterans sometimes have difficulty traveling to see a VA doctor or other health care provider.  The problem is further complicated by the distance many rural Veterans live from their VA facility.  The VA’s Office of Rural Health specifically works to improve the quality of and access to health care for rural Veterans.  Always looking for new ideas, in 2009 the Office of Rural Health established the Rural Health Professions Institute at Mountain Home VA Medical Center.  The role of the Institute is to develop the VA’s rural workforce through rurally focused, experiential learning and advocacy.
 
The Institute is uniquely qualified to offer this rural workforce development initiative.  The Institute home lies in the very rural Southern Appalachians at a VAMC that has been providing care to rural Veterans since 1903.  This bedrock of experience is joined in partnership with East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine.  ETSU proudly holds the distinction as one of the nation’s top medical schools in rural and inter-professional medical education and is a national innovator in designing curriculum that prepares health professionals to effectively work within rural communities.  These two organizations offer the best of rural culture, rural focused medical education, and rural focused innovation, research, and planning.
 
Holding Institute sessions as many as nine times a year, the Institute specifically targets VA employees from Community Based Outpatient Clinics across the nation.  It is through these clinics that the VA is continually expanding their rural outreach and health care delivery.  Subject matter experts from the region and across the nation lead relevant and timely learning for these VA employees.  Topics include rural and Veteran culture, storytelling, building partnerships with community members, the use of telemedicine technology to bridge the distance between the clinic and specialty consultation available only at a large hospital, the use of performance improvement tools, and a number of rurally significant clinical areas such as diabetes, mental health issues, and home based care.
 
After the Institute week is over and participants return to their homes and rural practices, the Institute provides a mechanism for the continued informational and educational support of graduates to ensure their ongoing learning and knowledge sharing.  All of these efforts and the people involved in them are dedicated to the principle that all Veterans regardless of their location receive the same high level of expert, competent, and consistent health care.