NOSORH is proud of the annual success of National Rural Health Day, bringing new programs, ideas, events, and opportunities to celebrate the #PowerofRural! Check out this new fact sheet that highlights some of the impact National Rural Health Day had at the local, state and national level in 2020 (including 68 million Twitter impressions during the week!).

Be sure to mark your calendar for Thursday, November 18, and stay tuned for 2021 National Rural Health Day events and resources!

NOSORH invites rural stakeholders to learn grant writing skills to find funding to make a difference to improve health in your community. The NOSORH Grant Writing Institute is a 9-session webinar series covering all aspects of basic grant writing from getting started, grant budgets, finding data, program evaluation and identifying funding sources. The sessions include resources to build a grant portfolio. Participants are provided one-to-one support for grant seeking challenges. All sessions are conducted live and recorded, a forum encourages student interaction, and a certificate is offered for those completing the course. Click here for details about cost, curriculum and how to participate. Registration closes February 26, 2021.

NOSORH, NASEMSO, and the JCREC will be hosting the National Rural EMS & Care Conference virtually on April 20-22, 2021. The planning committee is building an agenda that will deliver meaningful, impactful, and timely information to SORH and EMS partners/stakeholders. Registration will open soon. As information becomes available, it will be posted on the NOSORH website.

NOSORH is now accepting speaker proposals for the upcoming SORH Regional Partnership Meetings. This is a great opportunity to speak and present your work/research findings/projects and other topics to help SORH address the needs of rural communities to prepare for the future. All five of the meetings will be virtual this year. If you are interested in submitting a speaker proposal for the planning committee’s consideration, please click here.

The HRSA RHC COVID-19 Testing TA project team is working to advise and support the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy and the National Association of Rural Health Clinics (NARHC) to grow testing among RHCs by working directly with the 45 SORH that have 1 or more RHCs in their state. TA has been provided to SORH, RHCs and corresponding organizations holding the Tax Identification Number (TIN). Outreach ramped up in mid-October at which time 498 TIN organizations representing 898 RHCs registered and reported data. SORH have demonstrated a significant effort and diligence in disseminating information related to this program, resulting in 1,734 TIN organizations representing 3,408 RHCs registered and reporting some data in the NARHC reporting portal Read More

Congress Returns to Begin New Session: In January, the 117^th Congress was sworn-in. The annual appropriations process has taken a back seat to the COVID stimulus plan being debated by the White House and Congress. Expect the Biden Administration to release their Fiscal Year 2022 Budget proposal to Congress sometime before his first State of the Union address on February 23. 

COVID Legislative Package Debated in Congress: Prior to being sworn-in, the incoming Biden Administration released an outline of their emergency relief proposal. Democrat leadership endorsed the $1.9 trillion COVID supplemental package. Included in the proposal is increased emphasis on vaccine deployment. Read More

The CDC has contracted with the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis to seek provider input for a study on traumatic brain injury (TBI). The information learned through this study will help guide CDC’s future efforts to support clinicians in preventing, diagnosing, treating, and managing TBI in rural settings across the U.S.

As a part of this study, NORC is hosting a series of virtual focus groups with rural health professionals involved with the diagnosis, treatment, and/or management of TBI who are located in rural communities. Recently, the CDC approved a change to focus group participant eligibility to include: Physicians (MD/DO), Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants practicing in primary care and/or emergency departments; Certified Nurse Midwives; Paramedics/EMTs (including Community Paramedics); Social workers; and Community Health Workers.

If you have questions or suggestions for potential focus group participants, please email Maggie Cherney at [email protected]. We greatly appreciate your assistance with this effort.