Along with coverage of everything from Congressional wrangling over the Farm Bill to livestock management to wildlife conservation, High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal’s senior field editor Larry Dreiling finds time to tackle health stories. He sees access to health services as essential to sustaining rural life.
His neighbors in rural America may live many miles from a needed specialist or emergency room. Or, as he points out, they may need to drive two hours to get to a dentist.
Dreiling was kind enough to take some time recently to talk about his coverage and to offer advice to other reporters about telling health care stories in rural America.
Upcoming workshop
Rural health leadership in a changing countryside
Seeing rural health problems downstream – with people thrashing for help in a metaphorical river’s rapids – is one perspective. But our luncheon speaker, with almost 30 years of experience in Oregon public health, primary care, public policy and philanthropy, will tell her own stories of rural health looking upstream, where the problems can begin.
