The unique objective of this review was to prioritize the voices of patients and providers in discussing the disparities between health interventions and needs of people in rural communities.
Canada
Two McMaster University professors have received research funding to boost their work to identify COVID-19 infection rates and to understand why some people are more susceptible to the virus. Dawn Bowdish, professor of pathology and molecular medicine and the Canada Research Chair in Aging and Immunity, and Michael Surette, professor of medicine and the Canada Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Microbiome Research, are receiving $300,000 for two studies from The W. Garfield Weston Foundation through its Weston Family Microbiome Initiative. The funds are in addition to a three-year, $1 million grant from the Foundation awarded to the duo earlier this year. The original funding supports a study focused on identifying and isolating the members of the airway microbiome – which consists of microbes like bacteria, fungi, and viruses – that protect older adults from respiratory infection. “This additional funding will help us answer two important questions related to COVID-19,” said Bowdish. “One is a better understanding of what the actual infection rate is in the Hamilton community. The second is whether there are differences in the immune responses or the airway microbiomes of those who get sick and those who don’t, or in those who have symptoms versus those who don’t.”
The influence of place-based social processes on the retention of rural health workers
A national framework with strategic directions for building the rural generalist medical workforce for improved access to high quality rural health services
Nursing manager Tyler Smith reflects on his experience managing a small rural hospital in Hardisty, Alberta during the COVID crisis. “The last few weeks have been focused on the changing world as it unfolds — the first on opportunity through constriction, and another on transparency in crisis. To put it bluntly, there is a lot of fear on the frontline — and a lot of courage.
Access to specialized services is limited in rural and remote areas. This study explores the effectiveness and feasibility of training parents to provide intensive speech pathology services for children at home.
Local Evidence for Health Service Planning Through a Rural Lens
Redesign of a rural emergency department to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic
Resources updated regularly for health-care providers and staff with a Canadian focus
Drug-resistant superbugs: A global threat intensified by the fight against coronavirus