Rural areas have a provider shortage. Hear how rewarding it is to work in rural healthcare taking care of families across the lifespan.

Join me for a conversation about rural access to care. Dr. Dee Blakney, a Family Nurse Practitioner and Acute Care Nurse Practitioner who has a clinic in two small towns in West Tennessee, and Dr. Sarah Rhoads a nurse practitioner and nurse researcher with a special interest in rural health access and technological use in health and medicine.

We discuss barriers to healthcare for those residents living in rural areas and how Dr. Blakney’s clinics provide the residents in Hardeman County and other surrounding counties the healthcare sorely needed. The small town of Whiteville does not have a pharmacy. Dr. Blakney talks about resources available for those residents. This rural area does not have a dentist or optometrist and residents must drive many miles to seek this care.

Dr. Rhoads talks about rural resilience and how technology, largely telehealth can supplement the care rural community residents need. She also talks about the Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) grant from HRSA and how funds go to benefit rural residents by providing nurse practitioner students experiences in rural areas for which they will commit to working after graduation.

Learn more about Dr. Rhoads and her research here: https://uthsc.edu/nursing/faculty-and-staff/rhoads.php

Additional information on rural health:

https://www.ruralhealth.us/

https://www.tnruralhealth.org/