Rural Matters

Recorded live from the recent Virginia Rural Health Association’s 2017 Rural Health Providers Conference, John chats up Summer Sage, president of the VRHA Board of Directors, and two keynote speakers — Robert Pack, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Professor of Community and Behavioral Health at East Tennessee State University and the Principal Investigator on a drug abuse research program in Appalachia; and Maggie Elehwany, government affairs and policy vice president for the National Rural Health Association. Pack described recent new education initiatives and resources, including the latest research found on the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP), https://knowledge.samhsa.gov/ta-centers/national-registry-evidence-based-programs-and-practices. Sage discussed a grant VRHA received to deal with the opioid crisis in Virginia. Elehwany discussed policy developments in rural health on the federal level and the impact on rural communities.

John chats with Kari Oyen, assistant professor of School psychology at the University of South Dakota and president of the South Dakota Association of School Psychologists about mental health issues in rural America and the role of school psychologists.  According to Oyen, because of the lack of resources in many rural areas, there’s a greater need for a systemized approach for dealing with pressing mental health issues in rural settings. In South Dakota, there is enormous problem with suicidal behavior, and there’s an increasing emphasis on prevention services, based on risk factors, such as single-parent homes, poverty and poor attendance. And there’s also a focus on what works in these situations, such as peer support and academic success.

Recorded live at the National Forum to Advance Rural Education at Ohio State University, this episode features a riveting discussion with Mara Casey Tieken, author of Why Rural Matters, and professor of education at Bates College in Maine. Mara talks about the importance of rural schools, which educate 20 percent of the school children in the United States and are critical to local rural economies. John and Mara discuss the growing importance of school closure policies to rural communities and student achievement; efforts at rural sustainability, including broadband access; the importance of online education; coverage of rural communities by the media; the three myths of rural communities; rural diversity; and the impact of school choice on rural communities and rural education.