CU Denver Program Tackles Rural Health Care Shortage
The facts are staggering. While 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas, only 9 percent of the nation’s physicians practice there. And in Colorado, the story is more disturbing.
Consider the prostate cancer patient who needed to undergo radiation treatment, yet the closest treatment option was in Pueblo, an hour-and-a-half away. The combination of $4-per-gallon gas prices and a grueling 130-mile daily roundtrip drive that he felt too ill to undertake, made treatment just too difficult for him. Consequently, he went without treatment. And not surprisingly, he died.
This is just one story. But there are hundreds of other similar stories.
Enter the CREATE Health program - Colorado Rural Health Education and Training Enterprise for Health. Developed by the University of Colorado Denver’s Rural Health Initiative, the program’s objective is to alleviate the shortage of doctors and nurses in the 75 percent of Colorado that is considered rural.
A $3 million grant from The Colorado Trust launched the program. Fitting into The Trust’s goal to achieve access to health care for all Coloradans, the grant helps fund educational opportunities for future medical practitioners who hail from rural areas.
“It’s one thing to be able to finance critical care, but an entirely separate issue if there is no doctor to provide it. CREATE Health offers a long-term solution to rural health care” says Laurel Petralia, program officer at The Colorado Trust
Recognizing that an ongoing dialogue about health care in rural Colorado will lead community members to a deeper understanding of this crisis, CU is also launching Colorado Conversations for Better Health Care with Colorado Trust support. As rural communities become engaged as advocates for improved health systems, a better future is possible.
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