The 2008 Report to the Secretary: Rural Health and Human Service
Issues
April 2008
Acknowledgements
The 2008 Report to the Secretary culminates
a year of collective work by the National Advisory Committee on Rural
Health and Human Services. I would
like to thank all of the Committee members for their dedication, particularly
the subcommittee chairs: Tom Hoyer,
Health; Larry Otis, Human Services; and Tom Ricketts, Building
Rural Communities. I would also
like to draw special attention to the hard work of Andrea Halverson,
Thomas Pack, Judy Herbstman, and Nina Meigs, Truman Fellows, who assisted
the Committee in drafting key chapters and prepared the report for publication.
Jeff Human, Jennifer Roberts, and Jake
Culp, consultants with McKing Consulting Corporation
and the Nakamoto Group, managed the logistics for each of the Committee
meetings.
In preparing this year’s 20 year retrospective on rural
health and human services, the Committee relied heavily on materials
provided by the Rural Health Research Centers.
I would like to acknowledge and thank the authors of the two
retrospective chapters in the 2008 report:
David Hartley, Andrew Coburn, John Gale, and Erika Ziller from
the Maine Rural Health Research Center; Julie Schoenman and Michael
Meit from the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis;
Daniel Patterson, Andrea Radford, Randy Randolph, Indira Richardson,
and Rebecca Slifkin from the North Carolina Rural Health Research and
Policy Analysis Center; Keith Mueller, Jocelyn Richgels, and Susan Nardie
from the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis; and, finally,
Michelle Casey from the Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center.
Daniel Patterson, Nels Sanddal, Chris Tilden, Denny Berens, Drew
Dawson, Tami Lichtenberg, Gary Wingrove, and Terry Hill also assisted
with the section on rural emergency medical services.
Staff from the Rural
Assistance Center
helped with background research. The
Committee is deeply indebted to these individuals for researching, analyzing,
and preparing such valuable data.
The report benefited from the assistance of Federal
staff, including Marcia Brand, Tom Morris, Carrie Cochran, Erica Molliver,
Michele Pray-Gibson, and April Ward of HRSA’s ORHP; and Dennis Dudley
of the HHS Administration on Aging. Crucial
expertise was provided by Robert Gibbs and John Cromartie from the Economic
Research Service, as well as Brian Dabson and Bruce Weber from the RUPRI Center. Finally, I would particularly like to thank Jennifer
Chang for her work as NACRHHS’ Executive Secretary.
The Committee also benefited from the hospitality and
rich information provided by various individuals connected with the
Committee’s two 2007 site visits. In
June, the Committee visited Fort
Collins, Colorado and heard testimony from several health
and human services providers in the surrounding communities. In September, the Committee visited Madison and Sauk
City, Wisconsin. I applaud the hard work of Sue Birch and Tim
Size, who served as hosts and organizers for the two site visits. Also contributing to the visits’ success were
Lou Ann Wilroy, Executive Director of the Colorado SORH; Denise Denton,
former Executive Director of the Colorado SORH; and John Eich, Director
of the Wisconsin SORH. The number
of people involved is far too many to list here, but I want to acknowledge
the help of everyone involved with the Committee visits.
The opportunity to get into the field and learn about rural health
and human services delivery from those who are actually providing these
services was critical in informing this report and the recommendations
that are included.
Sincerely,
The Honorable
David M. Beasley, Chair
The National Advisory Committee