Office of Rural Health Grants-Falls Prevention

The Office of Rural Health sponsored the Rural Community Grant Program for the last several years with funding from the federal Office of Rural Health Policy.  I’ve managed this program for several years, awarding a few dozen grants totaling over $600,000 to community coalitions around Wisconsin.  Each fall I make a point to visit the [...]

October 27, 2010 · KJacobson · No Comments
Tags: , , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Grant Advice, Program Updates, Reports and Studies

Cancer Control and Prevention

Last year President Obama declared April to be Cancer Control Month.  His statement recognized the links between many behaviors and cancer, including smoking, diet and physical inactivity.  The National Cancer Institute has many resources you can employ to “encourage healthy lifestyles, promote cancer screening, increase access to quality cancer care, and improve quality of life [...]

April 15, 2010 · KJacobson · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Conferences and Webinars, Grant Advice

Medication Safety and Senior Care

This is Medication Safety Week and I’ve come across several conferences and other related resources.  This website has some good ideas on medication safety programming and activities.  Access to medication—as in pharmacies—is a growing problem; I discuss that below.  Medication safety is a special concern among the elderly-I’ve found some senior/caregiver resources, too. Here are [...]

April 5, 2010 · KJacobson · No Comments
Tags: , , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Conferences and Webinars, Grant Advice, Reports and Studies

Health Care Workforce Woes

In case it wasn’t obvious to anyone who lives in or works with rural communities, an article in the Sunday WI State Journal describes what I believe is the most significant crisis in rural health care: workforce.  Life and Death in Park Falls describes the difficulty in recruiting providers in rural communities and the impact [...]

March 9, 2010 · KJacobson · No Comments
Tags: , , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Conferences and Webinars, Program Updates, Provider Loan Repayment

Healthy Aging Month

September is Healthy Aging Month and here are resources to help you develop healthy aging and other senior-focused programs in your community and to help support seniors, their families and caregivers.    The Alzheimer’s Foundation funds Family Respite Care Grants.  They award grants up to $1,000 “to help alleviate the cost of respite care for [...]

September 15, 2009 · KJacobson · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Grant Advice, Reports and Studies

Rural Veterans Health Resources

Rural veterans are in poorer health than urban veterans, according to studies over the last several years.  This is often related to access—urban areas generally have more clinics and hospitals per capita than rural communities.  Veterans are disproportionately rural; 40% are rural and over 12% of rural residents are veterans, compared to 10% of the [...]

February 19, 2009 · KJacobson · No Comments
Tags: , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Conferences and Webinars, Reports and Studies, Training and Tools

New Resource for Caregivers

  Ask Medicare, a new website from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is designed as a one-stop resource for caregivers who are assisting Medicare recipients.  Currently, over 44 million caregivers provide the equivalent of $350 billion in assistance every year.  The website provides an easy to navigate collection of answers and guides on [...]

November 9, 2008 · KJacobson · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Training and Tools

Rural Health Webinars

Webinars, podcasts, webcasts… They’re all methods of participating in or viewing presentations from the comfort of your own office, or wherever you happen to be, while saving the time and expense of driving. There are several scheduled over the next month: The AgriSafe Network will host two interactive presentations: Nov. 11 12-1pm Central Time Kids [...]

November 7, 2008 · KJacobson · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Conferences and Webinars