Celebrating National Rural Health Day with Essentia Health
Whether Dr. Sreejith Gopi is providing care for a newborn baby or his 98-year-old patient who still walks to appointments at the Essentia Health-Ada Clinic, there is a common tie that binds.
“Having quality access to health care providers on a regular basis, including for acute injuries and illnesses, I think it’s just a basic human right,” says Dr. Gopi, an Essentia family medicine physician in the small northwest Minnesota town of Ada, where the nearest metropolitan area, Fargo-Moorhead, is 45 miles to the south. “I’m glad that we can provide that support to the community we serve and the surrounding communities.”
The philosophy is straightforward: A person’s location shouldn’t impact their ability to receive timely and expert care.
At Essentia Health, we embrace that belief as a guiding principle. With a geographic service area that is about 84% rural, we work hard every day to safeguard the health and well-being of all our patients, regardless of where they live.
Today — Thursday, Nov. 21 — we join others in recognizing and celebrating National Rural Health Day.
Did you know that nearly 61 million people in the U.S., or 19.7% of the population, and 86% of the country’s land area, are considered rural? And yet rural communities face a disproportionate shortage of qualified health care providers, with 71% of primary care Health Professional Shortage Areas located in rural regions.
Indeed, the challenges of providing care in small towns are many and complex. For example:
Rural populations tend to be older, with more pronounced health needs and a higher likelihood of chronic disease. These patients require more frequent care to manage their health and, in rural areas, there are fewer providers.
Rural residents are more likely to have government health insurance, such as Medicare and Medicaid. On average, these programs reimburse far less than the cost of care, leaving a financial shortfall for health systems.
Workforce shortages are more pronounced in rural areas.
To continue reading about rural health care, and how Essentia navigates its challenges, visit the Essentia Health Newsroom.