Volunteers lay pipe along a rocky ridge to bring clean water to their
tiny community in western Virginia. Helicopter pilots swoop critically
ill infants from rural Alabama counties to Birmingham hospitals. West
Virginia counties entice European tourists to hike their mountains,
while small firms in Pennsylvania learn how to compete in markets
across the globe. Eighth-graders in Georgia use school-issued laptop
computers to surf the Internet from their classrooms and their homes.
These and other stories of innovative local solutions to local problems
highlighted the Ideas That Work Conference sponsored by the Appalachian
Regional Commission (ARC) October 12–13 in Wheeling, West Virginia.
The conference focused on the needs of distressed counties, using
reports on 14 successful projects selected from all 13 Appalachian
states, to stimulate discussion and generate new ideas.
West Virginia Governor Cecil H. Underwood, ARC states' co-chairman,
opened the conference by citing Appalachia's extraordinary economic
progress since the late 1960s, including a 51 percent growth in employment,
compared with an actual loss of jobs between 1950 and 1960. But he
also noted that 111 counties, most of them in Central Appalachia,
remain distressed, and that pockets of severe poverty remain elsewhere
in the Region.
"While I know that we are winning the struggle," Governor Underwood
said, "we must do more to address the needs in these distressed communities.
I'm especially concerned about the children of these communities who
are growing up in a world of poverty. That should not be acceptable
to any of us."
Governor Underwood noted that the Ideas That Work Conference grew
out of a meeting held a year earlier between him and ARC Federal Co-Chairman
Jesse L. White Jr. That led to a strong effort to stimulate local
initiatives in McDowell County, one of West Virginia's most distressed
counties.
"The McDowell County initiative," Governor Underwood continued,
"led me to ask all the Appalachian governors to look at programs in
their respective states to evaluate them on their potential to assist
distressed communities. We want you to examine the elements that have
made their programs successful. Take these successes and look at the
larger picture. Your recommendations, your insights will help all
of us to develop the necessary steps to eliminate poverty in your
communities and across all Appalachia."
"It's amazing," White said, "that a governor took one of his worst
counties, in terms of economic indicators, to try to do something
about. It reminds me of the biblical verse that we should adopt the
least among us as our challenge. The work in McDowell County is a
microcosm of what we should be about in ARC—to work with the least
of us and get all of us to the table of the American economy."
A Region of Contrasts
White suggested that the title of a report by the Southern Growth
Policies Board, Halfway Home and a Long Way to Go, applies
to the work of ARC. The number of distressed counties, he said, has
been halved since ARC was created, and the regional high school graduation
rate now equals the national average. Yet these regionwide statistics
require disaggregation to focus attention on the work still to be
done.
"We have moved," White said, "from a region of almost uniform distress
to a region of contrasts in which some areas are doing well, some
are in a transitional state, and others are still in our distressed
category. We have got to concentrate our resources on the areas left
behind. That's increasingly what we've been doing. As you know, we
take 30 percent of our nonhighway money and allocate it to distressed
counties. The issue isn't whether to target distressed counties, but
how best to use the money.
"What we'll hear about today are local solutions to local problems,"
White said. "That encapsulates the ARC model when it's working at
its best—a process where ideas are developed locally, come up through
the governor's office, and reach the federal desk last."
White stated that ARC was founded on a "growth center" model that
assumed economic benefits would spread from prospering areas to less
prosperous ones. This model, he said, has been reexamined during the
past six years and resources have increasingly been targeted to distressed
counties. In that context, he praised the commitment of Appalachian
governors to a regionwide focus on need without regard to state politics.
He noted that the allocation formula reserving at least 30 percent
of nonhighway funds for distressed counties must be approved annually
by the states. "There has never been a negative vote," White said,
"despite the fact that about eight of our states are net losers in
that allocation. Not an easy vote for some of our states to cast,
but it is done in the spirit of helping the least of us.
"The ARC story," White concluded, "is an unfolding story. It's a
story that's still being made and still being told. We're here to
sharpen our thinking, look at models that work, and continue to sharpen
the tools that we have and finish the job and be able to say to the
nation one day, 'Appalachia is like the rest of America, and we're
fully at the table of the American economy.' "
The projects highlighted at the conference, selected from a list
of "ideas that work" nominated by the Appalachian governors, reflected
the five goals of the ARC strategic plan. These goals are:
1: education and workforce training;
2: physical infrastructure;
3: civic capacity and leadership;
4: dynamic local economies; and
5: health care.
A Model for Self-Help
A special mid-conference presentation focused on McDowell County,
West Virginia, which Governor Underwood described as a potential model
for local self-help efforts built around training local leaders as
"spark plugs"—individuals who coordinate and motivate community
effort. Local grassroots efforts are being assisted by the Rensselaerville
Institute. (The institute provided technical assistance to volunteers
in Smith Ridge, Virginia, who completed a water line installation
project in record time and at about one-fourth the estimated cost
of professional contractors.)
McDowell residents described several small projects, including incentives
for students to improve academic performance, renovation of a small
town's grassy park, creation of neighborhood computer labs for children,
and a "Hoops for Hope" project using basketball as a strategy for
changing the lives of children and teenagers at risk for failure in
school and elsewhere. The goal of the project was to get at least
ten kids off the streets; it regularly attracts at least 30 participants,
and usually around 100 on weekends.
Dewey Wimmer, who served as the spark plug of the Hoops for Hope
project in the small town of Jolo, said that his motivation came from
"watching kids buy drugs and cigarettes. We decided that we didn't
want that to be anymore. We wanted our county back."
Hal Williams, Rensselaerville Institute president, said that successful
self-help efforts emphasized planning and acting simultaneously (i.e.,
acting on good ideas immediately without waiting for comprehensive
plans to be completed), involving many people, making decisions based
on concrete results, and "betting on spark plugs."
"In McDowell County," Williams said, "you've got an extraordinary
group of people whose energy has not been tapped by the social service
system, which in many cases has encouraged them to be passive."
All project reports and subsequent discussions reached regional,
national, and international audiences via a live, day-long simulcast
produced by Kentucky Educational Television. It was made available
nationwide by satellite and worldwide over the Internet.
The conference workday closed with a survey of conference participants,
including those joining online, on how ARC resources should be allocated
with respect to strategic plan goals. Respondents pinpointed education,
the first goal, as needing significantly more resources in distressed
areas. They attached equal importance to the third goal, civic capacity
and leadership, while commenting that its support required a relatively
low level of financial commitment. Respondents felt that more money
would be desirable for physical infrastructure, enhancement of local
economies, and health care, but felt that these goals are receiving
appropriate emphasis within the limits of ARC's resources.
Fred D. Baldwin is a freelance writer based in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Conference Presentations: Ideas
That Work
GOAL 1
Education and Workforce Training
EXPANDING THE CLASSROOM:
TOWNS COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL LAPTOP COMPUTER PROJECT
Georgia
Recognizing the importance of helping students develop computer skills
before they enter high school, Towns County Middle School, in Hiawassee,
Georgia, launched an innovative project that is helping students,
parents, and teachers become more computer literate. In 1998, the
first year of the pilot program, Towns County gave every middle school
student and teacher a specially designed laptop computer. The goal
of the program was to create a "computer-friendly" environment, both
at school and at home, in which computers are an integral part of
every student's life.
The school offered training for teachers, students, and parents and
provided access to the Internet from school and home through a school-based
network. The project also created a Web site offering quick and easy
access to school information such as the parent-student handbook and
the school's calendar of events.
The results so far have been promising. School officials report that
school attendance improved last year, disciplinary problems declined,
and more parents of Towns County students enrolled in adult education
courses. Students and parents both report that the children are spending
less time watching television and more time doing homework. School
officials say the project reflects their belief that students can
maximize their potential if they can work in an environment that makes
learning critical skills fun and relates this learning to students'
lives at home and in their community.
Presenter: Stephen H. Smith, principal of the Towns County Middle
School.
PREPARING CHILDREN FOR SCHOOL:
REGION A PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN (SMART START)
North Carolina
In the early 1990s, many children in North Carolina were physically
and socially unprepared to start school. Rather than mandate a solution
to the problems, the state in 1993 created Smart Start, a statewide
early childhood initiative that required counties to establish local
community nonprofit boards to create and run local programs.
This was a challenge for all counties, especially for those in Appalachian
North Carolina. However, most of the 29 Appalachian counties had programs
in place by 1996, in part because ARC provided funds to help them
analyze, plan, and create partnerships to secure additional funding.
The goal of the program is to ensure that all children are healthy
and prepared to succeed when they enter school.
The Region A Smart Start project was developed to address three pressing
needs in the seven westernmost counties of North Carolina and on the
Qualla Boundary Cherokee Indian reservation. It seeks to provide:
- high-quality child care that is affordable and accessible for
families;
- easier access to health care, especially dental services, for
young children; and
- greater family support services, such as parent education on
best practices in child rearing and on addressing behavioral and
emotional challenges in young children.
The project has emphasized the importance of collaboration to maximize
resources and make system changes in the way services are delivered.
Because it focuses on prevention and early intervention, children
are now better prepared to succeed when they enter school.
Presenter: June T. Smith, executive director of the Region A Partnership
for Children.
MOTIVATING MORE STUDENTS TO ATTEND COLLEGE:
OHIO APPALACHIAN CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION (OACHE)
Ohio
Concerned about the low percentage of high school graduates from
Appalachian Ohio who were enrolling in college, the state commissioned
a study in 1992 to identify the barriers preventing these students
from enrolling. Low self-esteem was found to be the most prominent
barrier.
As a result of the study, the Ohio General Assembly established and
funded the Ohio Appalachian Center for Higher Education (OACHE), a
consortium of ten public colleges and universities, in 1993. Member
institutions and public schools were invited to submit proposals to
help Appalachians overcome the barriers delineated in the study. To
date, OACHE has sponsored 40 partner school projects, and the college-going
rate for partner schools has increased by an average of 34 percent.
The consortium has sponsored training programs to help teachers advise
students on career and education choices. It also has encouraged more
students to visit college campuses and has offered them assistance
with college and financial aid applications. With recent support from
the U.S. Department of Education, the consortium has encouraged more
adults to enter or re-enter college and has worked to create distance
learning centers linking member institutions.
In 1996, the consortium Community Colleges of Appalachia decided
to promote similar centers in other parts of the Appalachian Region.
The first, the North Central Appalachian Center for Higher Education
(NCACHE), was opened in the fall of 1998 at Bluefield State College
in Bluefield, West Virginia. NCACHE, like OACHE, has clearly demonstrated
that students from rural areas of Appalachia can be motivated to participate
in post-secondary education.
Presenters: Wayne White, executive director of the Ohio Appalachian
Center for Higher Education at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth,
Ohio; and Sarita A. Gattuso, director of the North Central Appalachian
Center for Higher Education at Bluefield State College in Bluefield,
West Virginia.
GOAL 2
Physical Infrastructure
COLD-BOOTING THE MOUNTAINS:
BIG SANDY TELECOMMUTING SERVICES
Kentucky
In 1994, determined that the new Information Highway not bypass Pike
County and neighboring counties in eastern Kentucky's Big Sandy area,
community leaders organized a nonprofit corporation, Big Sandy Telecommuting
Services, and launched a regionwide cyber-interest assessment. The
new organization sought to develop public access services not yet
available in the region and to serve as an applications lab, introducing
new communications technologies not only to area businesses and local
governments, but also to average citizens.
The project initially developed an Internet service provider (ISP),
a small computer lab, and a teleconferencing facility. It has since
sponsored an array of computer training courses designed for both
entry-level and more advanced users, including courses on designing
Web pages and on using the Internet. Responding to changes in the
marketplace, the corporation sold its ISP in 1998 and began focusing
resources on assisting small businesses and entrepreneurs with e-commerce
and on providing telecommunications and training programs for local
government and individuals.
By 1997 Big Sandy had outgrown its facility, and approached the
Pike County Public Library District, which was also seeking new space.
A partnership was struck, and soon after, the Pikeville College School
of Osteopathic Medicine was invited to join the partnership.
A 30,000-square-foot building is now under construction in Pikeville
and is nearly 50 percent completed. With its new headquarters, the
center anticipates expanding its reach throughout the Big Sandy community.
Presenter: Roger Recktenwald, member of the board of directors
of Big Sandy Telecommuting Services, Inc., and executive director
of the Big Sandy Area Development District in Prestonsburg, Kentucky.
BUILDING A NEW LOCAL ECONOMY:
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CENTER AND TECHNICAL
INNOVATION CENTER
Maryland
In the mid 1980s, after Fairchild Industries closed its aircraft
manufacturing operations, people in Washington County began working
to develop and attract new high-tech industries. Their goal was to
help develop a better-trained, more adaptable workforce.
The Advanced Technology Center was opened at Hagerstown Community
College in 1990, and the Technical Innovation Center, a major $2 million
addition, was completed in 1994. By 1995, six high-tech enterprises
were using the new facilities in fields such as chemical production,
electronics, and computer software engineering. At the center, entrepreneurs
can take an idea through the stages of computer-aided design, development,
test marketing, and production. In addition, local businesses have
access through the center to the expertise of state-supported economic
development agencies.
Today, the Advanced Technology Center continues to offer manufacturing
and technology firms access to the latest in cutting-edge technology.
The Technical Innovation Center, one of the few self-sustaining business
incubators in the nation, is a net provider of resources to Hagerstown
Community College and Washington County's Economic Development Commission.
The center has provided start-up resources to nearly 30 new or expanding
businesses and helped these firms create over 140 technology-related
employment opportunities.
Presenter: Douglas E. Leather, director of the Advanced Technology
Center/Technical Innovation Center in Hagerstown, Maryland.
EMPOWERING RURAL RESIDENTS TO HELP THEMSELVES:
SMITH RIDGE SELF-HELP WATER PROJECT
Virginia
For a hundred years or more, the residents of Smith Ridge—a rural
community of about 150 people in Tazewell County—got their water from
cisterns, springs, or wells. When the wells ran dry in the summer,
some families were forced to buy fresh water hauled in by a fire truck.
Given its small population and remote, mountainous location, the community
saw little prospect of improving its water supply. In the summer of
1998, however, that changed as a result of an innovative program that
helps people in small towns help themselves. With support from the
state's Department of Housing and Community Development, residents
were able to participate in the Self-Help Virginia program, an extension
of the national Small Towns Environment Program operated by the nonprofit
Rensselaerville Institute.
Under the program, residents worked together to construct a seven-mile
water-line extension to serve their homes. More than 70 residents,
nearly all of the community's able-bodied adults, volunteered to help.
The Tazewell County Public Service Authority loaned the volunteers
the heavy equipment, including a trencher, a backhoe, and a tamping
machine.
The project was completed much sooner than expected and at a much
lower cost than that of a traditional water-line construction job.
The final cost was about $250,000—one-fourth the cost estimated
by a contractor—and the extension took only three months to complete,
as opposed to the 24 months specified in the grant agreement. Another
major benefit: the project brought the community closer together and
motivated residents to plan future community self- help efforts.
Presenters: Mike and Pauline Taylor. The Taylors led the Smith
Ridge effort to bring clean water to the community, and Mike Taylor
served as one of the project's "spark plugs."
GOAL 3
Civic Capacity and Leadership
MAKING SERVICES MORE EFFICIENT:
SOUTHERN TIER WEST COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
New York
Most small municipal governments do not have the financial resources
to meet the ongoing professional development needs of their officials,
many of whom are not full-time employees. In addition, many governmental
functions, from purchasing to records management, could be done more
efficiently if carried out on a wider scale than is possible for small
rural communities. To address these issues, the Southern Tier West
Regional Planning and Development Board established the Community
Assistance Program (CAP) to help officials in Allegany, Cattaraugus,
and Chautauqua Counties.
CAP has two principal objectives—to improve the professional capacity
of regional municipal government and to encourage cooperative activities
among local governments to achieve greater economies of scale and
more efficient use of tax dollars. To meet these objectives, CAP developed
a number of continuing developmental and cooperative activities for
regional elected officials and professional employees. It also has
sponsored unique demonstration projects, technical assistance programs,
and professional educational opportunities to meet emerging needs.
Begun in 1987, CAP was so successful that it was given more permanent
financial support in 1991, with annual state funding and membership
dues from regional municipalities. Cooperative activities were intensified
in 1993, when the regional Municipal Purchasing Alliance was created
in cooperation with the Municipal Clerks Association and the New York
Department of State. Through the alliance, 78 local governments buy
goods collectively to receive lower prices. In 1994, CAP began working
with local universities to help local government officials and employees
share information on best management practices.
What began as a simple mechanism to help government officials become
more efficient and responsive has evolved into one of the most comprehensive
technical assistance and training programs in the state. Today, 116
of the region's 130 municipalities are members.
Presenter: Eric Bridges, director of the Center for Local Government
and Community Services with the Southern Tier West Regional Planning
and Development Board in Salamanca, New York.
DEVELOPING PRACTICAL APPROACHES TO ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT IN SMALL COMMUNITIES:
HANDMADE IN AMERICA'S LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE
North Carolina
Four communities along the Craft Heritage Trails in western North
Carolina wanted to improve and revitalize their main streets, but
were too small to qualify for existing national revitalization programs.
They turned to HandMade in America, a nonprofit organization helping
build the crafts traditions of the region into a force for economic
development. Other towns expressed interest, and by 1998 the Rural
Small Town Revitalization Project was under way.
Most of the participating communities were too small to have professionally
trained town managers and planners. To meet the need for strong leaders,
HandMade created the Leadership Development Initiative. Its goal is
to create a civic leadership corps that can successfully undertake
challenging but feasible improvement projects in small communities.
By taking part in eight training sessions, participating representatives
from small towns plan and conduct local community projects, using
their new leadership skills to recruit others. Training emphasizes
teamwork, project management, and resource management. At the end
of the training, graduates become mentors for participants from other
towns joining the Leadership Development Initiative program.
The initiative matches a comprehensive training and support program
with a strong base of community interest. During the initiative's
first year, community projects included new parks and public facilities,
as well as renovation and beautification efforts. As these were selected,
planned, and implemented, interest grew, and in 1999 the program expanded
to include 11 towns. The initiative has received national recognition
and become so popular that there is now a waiting list of small towns
that want to participate in the program.
Presenter: Rebecca Anderson, executive director of HandMade in
America, based in Asheville, North Carolina.
BUILDING NEW ALLIANCES FOR GROWTH:
APPALACHIAN REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE
South Carolina
In the mid 1990s, local leaders in the six counties of Appalachian
South Carolina recognized the advantages of linking independent communities
through jointly planned economic- growth and regional-infrastructure
projects. By creating the Appalachian Regional Economic Development
Strategic Initiative, key leaders in the region sought to identify
and take advantage of new regional strategies to overcome such challenges
as poor roads and inadequate water and sewer services.
A steering committee was formed, comprising top local governmental
and private-sector economic development leaders from each of the six
counties in the region. This group brought together more than 500
key leaders and citizens to develop a strategic action plan. The partnership
presented more than 70 recommendations, including many that focused
on major capital projects in water, sewer, and highway infrastructure.
As a result of the strategic planning process, over $100 million
in state funds has been allocated or designated for water, wastewater,
and transportation infrastructure in the six counties. Over 50 of
the recommended projects have either been completed or are under way.
An ongoing regional steering committee oversaw implementation. At
this time, approximately five years after the completion of the initial
plan, the region is in the process of re-forming the steering committee
to identify a second round of projects.
Presenter: Sam Cargill, director of the Community Grants Division
of the South Carolina Department of Commerce.
GOAL 4
Dynamic Local Economies
CREATING PARTNERSHIPS FOR SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH:
TEAM PENNSYLVANIA ENTREPRENEURAL NETWORK INITIATIVE
Pennsylvania
The vision of the Team Pennsylvania entrepreneurial network initiative
is to create a public-private alliance that will stimulate new value-added
services, new market opportunities, and regionally market-driven activities
to enhance the awareness of entrepreneurship and increase the rate
of new business formation and expansion.
The program consists of three core activities that take place in
seven local development districts, which cover 52 counties:
- Implementing a "Training the Trainers" program targeted toward
economic development specialists to ensure awareness of the Commonwealth's
technical and financial resources available to entrepreneurs and
small businesses;
- Conducting in-depth financial management seminars for start-up
and small and medium-sized companies; and
- Building seven entrepreneurial networks to identify core competencies
of providers, perform regional analyses of entrepreneurial climate,
initiate focus groups to identify gaps and impediments, and create
a marketing plan to enhance awareness of resources.
The three-stage initiative is based on the belief that planning and
research generate viable and market-driven action plans for future
years. Networks enable providers to keep pace with growing demand.
Ongoing collaboration will be stressed because it has been proven
that strong, responsive working relationships become a unique source
of advantage - a "collaborative advantage."
Presenters: David Black, deputy secretary for community affairs
and development for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic
Development in Harrisburg, and Pennsylvania's ARC state alternate;
and Linda Goldstein, director of the Pennsylvania Department of Community
and Economic Development's Entrepreneurial Assistance Office.
USING HIGH-TECH RESOURCES TO HELP ENTREPRENEURS:
TECHNOLOGY 2020
Tennessee
When Oak Ridge National Laboratory was established as the country's
principal research and development site for nuclear weapons technology,
the Oak Ridge region became almost totally dependent on federal government
jobs. Local community leaders began trying to diversify the local
economy in the early 1980s with the creation of the Valley Industrial
Park, now home to a number of technology-based firms. The end of the
Cold War brought new urgency to their mission.
Established in 1994, Technology 2020 is a public-private partnership
that seeks to leverage the unique information technology resources
in the region to incubate new businesses, create private-sector jobs,
and improve the prospects of economic growth. Serving all of Tennessee's
Appalachian counties, including ten distressed counties, Technology
2020 is
- growing new technology businesses. Technology 2020 supports a
network of business incubators, offers business planning and counseling,
and is developing debt and equity funds to provide client companies
with capital.
- developing a high-speed information infrastructure. Technology
2020 has established a regional Internet traffic exchange and a
high-speed regional ATM network. It is also developing a "digital
crossing" that will provide state-of-the-art telecommunications
services to companies across the region.
- establishing a pipeline of qualified information technology talent.
The Jobs21.net service on Technology 2020's Web site helps regional
companies find the workers they need, identify the training required
to keep their skills current, and apply for state training dollars
to help offset training expenses.
Presenter: Thomas C. Rogers, president and chief executive officer
of Technology 2020 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
BRINGING EUROPE TO APPALACHIA:
A REGIONAL TOURISM PROMOTION
West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky
All of Appalachia's 13 states consider tourism an important part
of creating a dynamic economy. Tourism is seen as particularly important
in rural areas of Appalachia because it supplements the local economy
through expenditures of funds from outside the Region. It also diversifies
and supplements the economy through the creation of jobs. Recognizing
that more repeat foreign visitors—Germans in particular—were traveling
to the United States, the tourism offices of West Virginia, Ohio,
and Kentucky began a special coordinated effort in 1994 to promote
Appalachia as a tourist destination.
Focusing on the Appalachian Mountain and River Region, the three
states promoted the area as offering diverse experiences for tourists—from history-related activities and cultural events to outdoor activities
such as hiking, biking, rafting, golfing, and fishing. Initially,
the three states took steps to educate tour operators and travel agents
on the region, at the same time hosting trade media in the region
in exchange for free coverage in German newspapers and magazines and
on German radio and television. Seminars were held in the three states
to better prepare the tourism industries for international visitors.
Already this project has more than met its goals. More foreign visitors
are coming to the region, and the local tourism industry has become
increasingly attuned to the need to expand its own international marketing.
Presenter: Betty Cutlip, international marketing representative
for the state of West Virginia.
GOAL 5
Health Care
EXPEDITING EMERGENCY CARE FOR INFANTS:
CARRAWAY LIFE SAVER PROGRAM
Alabama
Alabama is a state of sharp contrasts. Its largest urban area, Birmingham,
is one of the country's leading medical centers, yet its largely rural
Appalachian counties remain medically underserved. Children born in
remote, rural counties of Appalachian Alabama are often several hours
away from critical neonatal-care facilities in Birmingham. To improve
health-care services for premature and critically ill infants in these
remote counties, two medical institutions in the city have launched
a collaborative effort to provide emergency helicopter transport for
these infants to the care they need.
This program is an expansion of the Life Saver program of Carraway
Methodist Health Systems, one of the oldest and most successful emergency
helicopter programs in the country. Under a cooperative agreement
between Children's Hospital of Alabama and Carraway Methodist Health
Systems, critically ill children are transported by helicopter from
Appalachian community hospitals to critical care units at Children's
Hospital in Birmingham.
Providing air transport by helicopter has helped reduce delays in
providing life-saving medical care to infants. Life Saver helicopters
have flown 50 critically ill infants from 20 Appalachian Alabama counties
since the program began. Smaller hospitals have embraced the program,
regarding it as a way of extending the vast resources of Children's
Hospital in Birmingham into their own facilities and helping them
achieve their mission to provide outstanding care to the people they
serve.
Presenter: Warren Callaway, executive vice president and chief
operating officer of Carraway Methodist Health Systems in Birmingham,
Alabama.
IMPROVING HEALTH CARE AMID SEVERE RURAL POVERTY:
HICKORY FLAT CLINIC
Mississippi
In 1978, the only health care in Hickory Flat, a small town in Benton
County, was provided by a public health nurse one day a month, in
one room of a dilapidated clinic building. A community committee,
established with ARC funding and technical assistance, soon organized
as the Hickory Flat Clinic Association to rehabilitate, properly equip,
and operate the old clinic. A full-time nurse practitioner was hired,
and the renovated clinic reopened in 1979. The goal of the project
was to make health care much more accessible for rural residents in
the area.
Over the years, the clinic has become a mainstay of health care
in this distressed area of northern Mississippi. Primary care is available
daily for all age groups. Services range from immunizations to advanced
cardiac life support during emergencies. An infant mortality project
includes education by a clinic nurse practitioner, who also serves
as a health teacher at the Hickory Flat School.
Now in its twentieth year, the Hickory Flat Clinic averages 3,500
patient visits each year and also provides home health visits and
periodic community health screenings. During the past year, the patient
caseload included 482 people who had never been to the clinic before.
In addition, over 40 nurse practitioner students have received mentoring
and clinical experience at the clinic, giving them skills they need
to assist people in the community. The clinic is considered a model
for rural areas seeking to create a health-care clinic that will provide
consistent, quality health care.
Presenter: Sue Morrison, director of the Hickory Flat Clinic in
Hickory Flat, Mississippi.
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