Challenges of caring for Alaskans: Fewer people, across more miles, often in cold, dark
Jun 3, 2024
While health care in rural America is a challenge everywhere, many of the challenges are more extreme in Alaska.
The Road to Rural Health
Understanding and addressing challenges faced by about 60 million people in the U.S.
Small towns have a big problem with health care. But they also have the resilience to meet the problem. People in rural communities live almost three years fewer than urban and suburban dwellers, and they’re more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke.
The reasons are varied and not always understood.
Higher rates of tobacco use, physical inactivity, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure increase the risk for serious diseases. Rural communities face severe shortages of health care professionals. They may live a long way from hospitals or clinics. Or they may reside in “food deserts,” remote from reliable access to healthy food.
Even so, the advantages of rural life, including a strong sense of connection, of neighbors helping neighbors, provide a sturdy foundation for overcoming these health disparities.
Stories from rural America
A look at some of the major health issues facing people in rural America.
The American Heart Association visited five states to try to understand the rural health challenge people face, and how they are working to overcome them. Watch our Health Wanted video reports from Alaska, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota and West Virginia.
Alaska
Great distances and multiple health care systems in the nation’s largest state.
Kansas
The Ioway tribe grapples with food insecurity by returning to traditional farming methods.
Kentucky
People face rugged terrain, long distances and other barriers to health.
North Dakota
Long distances and fewer medical professionals impact emergency response.
West Virginia
While the state ranks low in many health categories, people there are working to make a difference.
The AHA responds
The AHA has issued a Presidential Advisory identifying rural health challenge as one of three main barriers to health equity and is making a wide-ranging effort to address it in close cooperation with communities that are affected.
The Advisory highlights these urgent needs:
- Increase access to care
- Improve quality of care
- Reduce risk factors
Initiatives in action
Removing barriers to health in rural areas is a top priority for the AHA, which is directing energy and resources to close the gap between rural and urban care. Here’s how:
Rural Health Care Outcomes Accelerator
Improving care at hospitals and clinics with no-cost access to Get With the Guidelines® programs for coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke.
HeartCorps
Enlisting service-minded people to work in rural communities to improve heart health.
HeartCorps is a service opportunity for those interested in driving health equity in rural America with the AHA.
Health Equity Research Network on Rural Health
Funding $20 million in projects to find fresh solutions to the issues.
More rural health headlines
Health care, housing still a challenge after flooding devastated eastern Kentucky community
May 31, 2024
The mountainous and largely rural areas of eastern Kentucky remain on the road to recovery after historic and deadly flooding in 2022.
State and local efforts aim to ease access to heart care in rural Kentucky
May 29, 2024
In a state where mountains and winding roads can make getting emergency services and health care hard, Kentuckians turn to technology and new training for help.