As rural Pennsylvania communities face declining health care access, Juniata College in Huntingdon County is working to form a “Rural Health Collaborative” with other community organizations.
Last year, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, or HRSA, granted Juniata College $100,000 for the strategic planning project, which is now more than halfway done.
Juniata was one of 25 organizations across the country to receive funding from the Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program last year.
Sarah Worley is one of the planning project directors in Huntingdon County and a professor at Juniata College. Worley said there are already existing rural health networks across the country. Some include centralized service facilities, shared technical services between partners and training programs.
“But ultimately what we need to do is understand how we design and develop a model that is place-based, that is going to work here in Huntingdon County, based on the people we have, the organizations we have, the resources we have," Worley said.
In researching the community’s needs, Worley said a continuing theme is a need to address health care workforce issues.
“There's some really interesting opportunities starting to emerge around bringing back a quick response service here on campus and possibly working with Southern Allegheny's EMS on bringing more training opportunities that will benefit both our students, but also members of the local community," Worley said.
Worley talked about the collaborative at a rural health summit at Juniata College on February 19. The summit happened a few days after Bradford Regional Medical Center submitted a closure notice to the state. Since then, an Erie company has stepped in to keep some services open, not including the emergency department. It's one example of declining health care access in Pennsylvania's rural communities and was a topic of discussion for many attendees at the summit.
“I think there is a sense of urgency," said Lauren Bowen, the provost at Juniata College and one of the summit's organizers, when asked if the college feels pressure to make the rural health collaborative a success.
"This is an incredibly important issue, and given various pressures, we understand we need to address rural health care needs, and I think there is room for optimism," Bowen said.
Juniata College has to finish the plan for Huntingdon County’s Rural Health Collaborative by June 12 to meet a deadline for the federal grant. The other founding partners are Broad Top Area Medical Center, Mainstream Counseling, the Central Pennsylvania Clinic and United Way.
