National Rural Health Day

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Healthwill join the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health and other rural stakeholders in celebrating National Rural Health Day on Nov. 15.

National Rural Health Day was created to showcase rural America, increase awareness of rural health-related issues and promote efforts to address those issues. Plans call for National Rural Health Day as an annual celebration on the third Thursday of November.

Events recognizing National Rural Health Day and “Celebrating the Power of Rural” are planned throughout the nation. In Lubbock, the F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health will mark the occasion (Nov. 12-16) with several events at TTUHSC, 3601 4^th St.:

10 to 11 a.m., Nov. 12, TTUHSC Academic Classroom Building (ACB) 110

• Billy Philips, Ph.D., executive vice president and director of the F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health will kick off National Rural Health Day events with opening remarks

2 to 3 p.m., Nov. 13, ACB 120

• Introduction to the TTUHSC Telemedicine Program

2 to 4 p.m., Nov. 14, ACB 100

• Holly Jeffreys, BSN, MSN, DNP, associate professor and program director for the Family Nurse Practitioner Program at West Texas A&M University, will present, "Providing Health Care in Rural Areas of the Texas Panhandle - Going Where No One Else Has Gone Before"

10 a.m. to noon, Nov. 15, ACB First Floor Foyer

• National Rural Health Day expo, with booths from different organizations and areas of health care; and four rural health programs from the F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health:




• Rural Research Group


• Telemedicine


• West Texas Area Health Education Center (AHEC)


• West Texas Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (WTxHITREC)

Noon to 1 p.m., Nov. 15, ACB 100

• J. Luecke, M.D., a rural family practice physician in Alpine, Fort Davis and Marathon, Texas, will present, “25 Years of Family Practice in the Big Bend: What a Long, Strange Trip it’s Been”

Nov. 16, F. Marie Hall SimLife Center

• The F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health will schedule tours of the SimLife Center. To make a reservation or for more information, contact Karin Huie at (806) 743-1338.

Approximately 62 million people — nearly one in five Americans — live in rural and frontier communities. These communities also face unique health care needs including a growing elderly population, minority-specific diseases and the lack of access to health care specialists like pediatricians, dermatologists and internists.

State offices of rural health are key in addressing those needs. All 50 states maintain a state office of rural health, each of which shares a similar mission: to foster relationships, disseminate information and provide technical assistance that improves access to, and the quality of, health care for its rural citizens. In the past year, state offices of rural health collectively provided technical assistance to more than 28,000 rural communities.

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