What Does it Mean to Receive Healthcare in a Rural Area?

HARSHIL JOSHI – The idea of hoping to get into a car accident around a certain area may seem foreign to many. However, many people who live in rural communities have come to realize that the healthcare system that supports their area is frankly not enough, leaving many underserved in the quality of care they receive from health professionals. This lackluster quality of rural hospitals in comparison to urban areas is not a new phenomenon. People, for years, have found their 911 calls to be meaningless since ambulances do not arrive in time for any meaningful intervention. These horror stories of understaffed, underfunded, and isolated hospitals have appeared across the United States, and their disconnect was only highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Georgia, is of course, no exception.

According to a study published by the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute of Government, 120 counties in Georgia are rural, making about 21% of the state’s population living in rural areas. Of those 120 rural counties, 53 of them do not have a single hospital which is depicted on a recent map published by the Georgia Department of Community Health. With this discrepancy, close to 50% of rural counties lack adequate access to health care, creating devastating impacts. Having healthcare giants like Piedmont extending their coverage over a multitude of areas can make it easy to forget the populations that fall through the cracks. However, these statistics unequivocally demonstrate that a large portion of the population is suffering from a consistent lack of medical attention. 
While this data is profound in its implications, there have been recent steps to alleviate this rural healthcare disparity. First, the Georgia government has rolled out a new Rural Hospital Services program to procure federal funding for rural hospitals and a Small Rural Hospital Improvement program to enhance existing points of care, whether it be through investing in better technology or giving staff additional training. Furthermore, local medical schools like Mercer University School of Medicine have made it their mission to train physicians that will hopefully practice in “rural and medically underserved areas in Georgia.” All Georgians, no matter their zip code, deserve adequate and necessary health care. These initiatives mark a significant stride towards achieving this goal.

Copy Editor – Yeongseo Son

Photography Source – https://www.ahu.edu/blog/improve-healthcare-in-rural-areas