By Tony Leys for KFF Health News.Broadcast version by Mark Moran for Iowa News Service reporting for the Rural Democracy Initiative-Public News Service Collaboration Allison Roderick has a warning and a pledge for rural residents of her county: The water from their wells could be contaminated, but the government can help make it safe. Roderick is the environmental health officer for Webster County in north-central Iowa, where a few thousand rural residents live among sprawling corn and soybean fields. Many draw their water from private wells, which are exempt from most federal testing and purity regulations. .
Hardworking rural Michiganders have the determination and ingenuity to make lasting, tangible outcomes to benefit their communities. We just need our elected lawmakers to see us and take definitive action.
Hardworking rural Michiganders have the determination and ingenuity to make lasting, tangible outcomes to benefit their communities. We just need our elected lawmakers to see us and take definitive action.
People in rural America are five times as likely to live in so-called "ambulance deserts," areas far from an ambulance service or station, than those in urban areas. In rural Iowa, ambulance service has declined as the population dwindles. The study, from the Maine Rural Health Research Center, said half of those living in ambulance deserts are in rural areas, more than 25 minutes from an ambulance station. .
A new report highlights policy actions it says could benefit people living in rural Arizona. Sherri Jones, a governing board member for the Florence Unified School District, calls this year s Rural Action Policy Report a "guiding tool" for elected officials and service providers to better understand the lives of rural Arizonans. Economic development, food supply, education, health and overall safety all play a part in rural communities vitality. .