Rural Health

Engineers and psychologists at Missouri University of Science and Technology are using computer modeling and real-world interviews to see if a mobile cancer radiation truck could bring care to far-flung patients in rural parts of the state.

The agreement will let the hospital that serves a predominantly rural area have access to the resources of a major city’s health care system without surrendering local control.

Missouri residents may have heard ghoulish tales of “Doc Annie” Smith, a physician who looms large in the state’s mythology for performing illegal abortions in the early 1900s. Today, the truth about her work has largely disappeared.

The high-tech innovation group BioSTL has opened a center to focus on bringing new technologies to the region to expand quality care to remote areas.

A new report found the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated Illinois' rural health worker shortage.

The market for health care labor continues to be pinched. Rural hospitals are finding they can attract staff by not requiring staff to get the COVID vaccine.

Boone County has one of the highest vaccination rates in Missouri, according to the Department of Health & Senior Services. 49.0 percent of the county has completed their vaccine regiment, and 55.5 percent have at least begun the process.

The outbreak of COVID-19 in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas has become the nation's largest and is mostly driven by the highly contagious delta variant.

Agriculture, business and health care groups in Missouri are discussing ways to help boost the number of people in rural communities who receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Their goal is to change the way vaccine advocates communicate their message to rural residents.

Appointments for a COVID vaccination are still easier to find in rural areas, and many people living in the St. Louis area are headed out on long drives to get them.