Conference
explores how to cover, boost rural health
By David Gross, Center for Rural
Health, University of Kentucky, March 2005
HAZARD, Ky. -- Medicaid and Medicare systems in
seemingly constant flux. New developments in e-health and telemedicine.
HMOs vs. PPOs.
From bureaucratic red tape and technological innovations
to a sea of jargonistic acronyms, even those who work in health
care acknowledge it is not an industry that is easily understood.
Thus is presented a quandary for the news media
– particularly rural outlets that are often understaffed
– to translate complex medical information for a broad
and varied audience, and help them lead healthier lives.
To make that task less daunting, the recent conference,
“Covering Health Care and Health in Mid-Appalachia,”
sought to improve health-related news coverage by providing
information and causes for the region’s health status,
contacts and resources in the agencies specializing in health
care, and ways journalists in the region can cover these subjects
in the hope of helping their readers, listeners and viewers
make better decisions about their health care and their health.
“As health care becomes more complicated,
it is more daunting to cover,” Judy Owens, director of
the University of Kentucky Center for Rural
Health, which hosted the Feb. 25 conference, told journalists
from newspapers, television and radio. “But it is all
the more necessary that you do so on behalf of the communities
you serve.
“Rural communities are very dependent on
the local news media to act as their advocates,” said
Owens, herself a former rural-based reporter for the state’s
two largest newspapers, Louisville’s Courier-Journal
and the Lexington Herald-Leader. “It’s
imperative in this age that someone provide a voice for people
living in these rural communities. Reporters really should be
that voice.”
The conference was sponsored by the Institute
for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which is
dedicated to strengthening and invigorating local newspapers
and broadcast stations so they can better define the public
agenda in their communities and help their audiences understand
how the public is affected by regional, state and national issues.
The institute is headquartered at UK’s School of Journalism
and Telecommunications and has academic partners at eight other
universities serving parts of Appalachia..
IRJCI Director Al Cross said health should be
a primary focus among media outlets in rural Kentucky, where
rates of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and smoking are among
the nation’s highest. At the same time, that need for
medical services has made health care one of the area’s
major employers.
But numerous factors – from the corporatization
of formerly individually owned weekly newspapers to economic
concerns that have resulted in short-handed news staffs –
at times have combined to limit substantive coverage of health
care, the environment and the other issues on which the Institute
is focused.
“The news media in Appalachia could play
a key role in improving the region’s health,” said
Cross, former political writer for The Courier-Journal.
“But all too often, most of the health care information
some outlets carry is advertising from providers looking for
patients.” Cross encouraged journalists to ask tough questions
like, “Why is health care so expensive, and why is it
so ineffective in central Appalachia?”
Other presentations at the conference, which brought
together nearly 100 journalists, health care professionals and
interested citizens from a handful of Appalachian states, included:
“Appalachian Health Issues and Journalism’s
Role in Addressing Them,” by Bruce Behringer, assistant
vice president for rural health and assistant dean at East
Tennessee State University’s College of Medicine;
“How Health Issues Relate to Other Issues
in Central Appalachia,” by Wayne Myers, former head of
the U.S. Office of Rural Health Policy, former
president of the National Rural Health Association and
former director of the UK Center for Rural Health;
“Health Care as an Economic Engine in Rural
Areas,” by Eric Scorsone, an assistant professor in UK’s
Department of Agricultural Economics; and
“Taking it Home to Your Newsroom: A Roundtable
Discussion,” led by Gil Friedell, director emeritus of
UK's Markey Cancer Center, who addressed community issues, and
Herald-Leader reporter Jim Warren, who focused on media challenges.
Myers told conference attendees that poverty crosses
all racial and ethnic bounds in central Appalachia and is at
the root of its health problems. He said the region’s
health care is no worse than anywhere else, but he and other
presenters noted that its cancer death rates among people aged
35 to 64 are disproportionately higher, reflecting a shortage
of screening – which Cross said could be addressed by
feature stories about cancer victims who survived because they
were screened.
Cross suggested that the region’s newspapers
give prominent display to health-oriented news, citing a front-page
story and editorial from the Greenup County News-Times
about an anti-obesity grant received by the local school system.
Cross also suggested that newspapers could use
their ability to “sample copy” every household in
their counties to reach non-subscribers with health information,
and cover the cost with ads from health care providers. Better
yet, newspapers can seek sponsors for such expanded circulation,
enabling them to count it as paid circulation. Potential sponsors
include physicians, clinics, hospitals and other providers.
The conference seems already to have had a positive
effect. In Jackson, for example, Breathitt County Voice
Editor Colleen Hornsby said her newspaper has since
printed features on a cancer survivor and the importance of
physical therapy.
“The conference was a boon for those of
us from small newspapers,” said Edmund Shelby, editor
and general manager of The Beattyville Enterprise.
“It is rare for us to hear from just a few experts, but
to be briefed by a series of nationally recognized health care
providers was a treat. I am looking forward to using some of
the information I gleaned in future articles.”
So, too, is Harlan Daily Enterprise
Staff Writer Adrienne Steinfeldt. “The conference was
an avalanche of information – facts and contacts I can
really use. I left energized and ready to dig for better health
care stories, seeing that my coverage can go far beyond the
one-shot story,” she said. “Too often at small papers,
I think, we scramble from fire to fire without stopping to reflect
in print on the larger issues and trends at hand. The media
can and should be a driving force behind improved health and
health care in the mountains; the conference pointed to practical
ways to embrace that responsibility.
“The conference provided me with a more
regional look at the health issues I see in my community. It’s
easy to feel isolated at a small, rural paper, hard to make
significant connections between the news we write and the rest
of the world. The Institute for Rural Journalism and the Center
for Rural Health, by joining forces, provided the connections
we so need.”