Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez, Colorado, received more than 59,000 patient visits last year. That’s enough to treat everyone in Cortez and surrounding Montezuma County twice. Staff call the small hospital a bedrock of both medical care and the local economy.  But warnings that the Republican-controlled federal government might cut Medicaid funding have community members […] The post GOP Cuts to Medicaid Could Threaten Rural Hospitals appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

This story was originally published by KFF Health News. Green lights flickered on the wireless router in Barbara Williams’ kitchen in Boligee, Alabama. Just one bar lit up — a weak signal connecting her to the world beyond her home in the Alabama Black Belt. Next to the router sat medications, vitamin D pills, and […] The post Millions in US Live in Places Where Doctors Don’t Practice and Telehealth Doesn’t Reach appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

In January, my husband and I flew to Las Vegas en route to our godson’s wedding near Parker, Arizona. We had daylight for most of the time we were driving through the desert country in Nevada and California, and saw enough of Arizona to appreciate the changing terrain as we traveled south along the east […] The post 45 Degrees North: Prescribed Fire appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in Path Finders, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week. […] The post Q&A: A Digital Bridge for Rural Healthcare Workers in Oregon appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

This story was originally published by the Texas Tribune on March 10, 2025. Five years ago, Melanie Richburg used a roll of duct tape, a HEPA filter and a portable fan to draw contaminated air out of a hospital room where patients were tested for the coronavirus. Now, as the state’s largest measles outbreak in […] The post With Crumbling Public Health Infrastructure, Rural Texas Scrambles to Respond to Measles appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

Rural America has challenges that vary from landscape to landscape across this huge country. But some are more universal and rural housing availability and affordability is the one shared across geographies and populations. For too many rural communities the lack of affordable housing is negatively affecting their development.  Understanding Rural Housing Distressed and remote rural […] The post Commentary: Rural Housing – Challenges and Solutions appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in Mile Markers, a twice monthly newsletter from Open Campus about the role of colleges in rural America. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox. Sydnee Dickson has headed Utah’s education efforts since 2016 as state superintendent […] The post Q&A: How Re-Defining Rural Success Charted a Shift in Utah Education Strategy appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

Community can mean a lot of different things in today’s world, with social media groups and virtual chats and connections with people whom you may never know in person. Those links are very different from ones long-held in rural spaces where neighbors were paramount to one’s generally close-to-home existence.  Many of those places have faded […] The post Ozarks Notebook: Stoking the Fire of Community appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Keep It Rural, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Like what you see? Join the mailing list for more rural news, thoughts, and analysis in your inbox each week. Just like every other self-respecting American, I have a junk drawer in my kitchen where all the […] The post Junk Drawer Gardening  appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more

Four years ago, family practitioner Dr. Jeff Chappell retired from his post as medical director of the Wayne Community Health Center in Bicknell, Utah. He was excited to undertake a new medical mission, through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to South America where he served as area medical director for Peru, Colombia, […] The post Retired Doctors Step Up in the Face of a Rural Health Care Crisis appeared first on The Daily Yonder ..read more