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JOHNSON CITY – The National Rural Health
Association (NRHA) has bestowed the
“Outstanding Rural Health Program of the
Year” award upon the Community Partnerships for
Health Professions Education Program at East
Tennessee State University .
The award is among several announced this week
during the NRHA's 30 th Annual Conference in
Anchorage , Alaska .
“The men, women, and organizations honored
here today were selected because of their outstanding
contributions, significant achievements, and the
innovative methods they use to make rural health care
the quality standard,” said NRHA
president-elect Paul Moore upon presenting the
award. “The accomplishments among this
group are amazing, and each individual here has a
unique and inspirational story to tell – one
that goes a long way toward eliminating the myth that
health care in rural America is anything less than
the very best!”
ETSU's Community Partnerships for Health
Professions Education Program was originally created
through a $6 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation to establish rural educational
partnerships in Johnson and Hawkins counties.
Through the years, the Kellogg model has been
sustained and used to form new partnerships with
Unicoi, Hancock, Carter, Greene, Cocke, Sevier,
Sullivan, and Washington counties, as well as with
the regional African-American and Hispanic
communities.
Since its inception, more than 500 ETSU students
have participated in rural community-based
interdisciplinary courses. The program was
initially designed for medical, nursing, and public
health students, but opportunities have been expanded
to include those from social work, nutrition,
environmental health, and psychology.
The students and faculty have helped the
communities to identify and address regional health
concerns, including childhood obesity, diabetes,
cancer, rural disaster preparedness, and youth risk
behaviors. Many graduates have remained in these
rural communities to practice and have helped to
stabilize and to reduce shortages in rural health
care systems throughout the region. |
