Rural Healthcare | Helmsley Charitable Trust

Case Study: Rural Healthcare Program

Avera Cancer Institute Pierre Meets Rural Patients Where They Are

A new Institute at the Helmsley Center, part of Avera St. Mary’s Hospital in SD, brings radiation therapy closer to home for many.

Rural Healthcare

Goals

In 2009, the Helmsley Charitable Trust created its Rural Healthcare Program to improve access to and quality of care in the upper Midwest. Working closely with our nonprofit implementing partners, the program invests in projects that improve healthcare delivery and strengthen the healthcare workforce.

Strategy

Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program funds innovative projects that use information technologies to connect rural populations to specialty medical care, bring the latest medical therapies to patients in remote areas, provide state-of-the-art training for rural hospitals and EMS personnel, and foster incentives for healthcare personnel to train and serve in rural areas. The program awards grants in the upper Midwest states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa, and Montana.

Delivery

Low average incomes, geographic isolation, and a severe shortage of qualified healthcare providers create challenges in delivering quality healthcare in rural America. The Rural Healthcare Program aims to meet the needs of rural Americans in the upper Midwest by funding programs that provide healthcare delivery in specific remote and underserved areas. Read more.

Workforce

Part of ensuring rural America has access to quality, affordable healthcare is to support the industry’s workforce. Many rural communities have health professional shortages. The Rural Healthcare Program seeks to alleviate these shortages by retaining the current workforce, providing them the support they need and recruiting additional quality healthcare professionals to rural communities. Read more.

Innovation

The Rural Healthcare Program funds innovative projects, research, and health policy education activities to leverage creative yet practical ideas against known challenges in rural healthcare. We look to assess and promote novel projects that can be scaled to advance healthcare delivery and workforce preparation and development throughout the region, with the ultimate goal of improving health outcomes. Read more.