UND's Rural Assistance Center celebrated five years Monday, and the director of the federal agency that gave the center life was on hand to mark the occasion.
Since 2002, the center has served as an information source for rural health care providers across the country and for people working on rural health issues in a state or national framework.
When the center first came into existence, it had a small, interim staff and an extremely small Web presence, project director Kristine Sande said. Now, the center boasts nine full-time staff members and recently celebrated 1.5 million total Web site hits, she said, with a third of those Web hits coming in the past year alone.
Health Resources and Services Administration director Elizabeth Duke spoke at a press conference Monday celebrating the five-year anniversary. HRSA, which is the center's sole source of funding, has delivered about $4.4 million to the center since its inception, according to a press release.
Increased awareness
ADVERTISEMENT
Duke credited the center with increasing awareness of rural health issues and with improving health care for rural people.
At HRSA's request, the center recently launched a separate Web site providing health care information that's unique to states along the country's southern border.
"I said, 'I know you're on a different border, but could you help anyway?'" Duke said.
Many RAC employees are trained as reference librarians, Sande said, and most of their work involves connecting people with specific information or with an expert in a particular rural health field.
"Sometimes information is in someone's head and not on a Web site, so experts are important," Sande said.
Some common information requests include rural hospital boards looking for grant opportunities and rural doctors and nurses looking for help with bilingual translation services, she said."Anyone can call," she said. "As long as they're looking to help rural communities, we'll do that."
Since opening its doors, RAC has responded to about 5,000 total information requests from all 50 states and about 20 foreign countries.
Marks reports on higher education. Reach him at (701) 780-1105, (800) 477-6572, ext. 105; or jmarks@gfherald.com .
