Click on the link to read the entire article about access to health care in rural Alaska. Use of community workers to bridge the gap in access to health care is used in rural US, low income areas, and globally. The story highlights one young woman's experience of leaving the area to train as a dental health therapist and then returning home to practice. How many young people want to work in these kinds of fields but don't' leave home so don't have the opportunity? How can bridging the digital divide, creating training and education programs to reach rural students and certify them, help improve the life of the people happily living in rural areas?
I'm also very pleased to see US Surgeon General Mike Leavitt keeps a blog! His previous entry discusses the collaboration of tribal members who are now looking into implementing an electronic medical record system http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/my_weblog/2008/07/alaska-blog-1-.html siobhan Alaska Blog II- Yakutat Tingit Clinic <http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/my_weblog/2008/07/alaska-blog-ii.html> The sign on the outside of the airport building said, "Food, Shelter and Booze." Before leaving to visit the Yakutat Tingit Tribe's clinic, I told the pilots of our plane I would be gone a few hours and suggested they step inside for two of the three featured amenities. It was a drizzly afternoon, but life in Alaska just carries on. This was July and the weather was good, during which not an hour can be spared as they get ready for winter. Twenty hours of daylight helps, but knowing winter comes soon keeps people moving. You are subscribed to Secretary Mike Leavitt's Blog for U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services. This information has recently been updated, and is now available <http://service.govdelivery.com/service/view.html?code=USHHS_22> . ________________________________ _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
