The success of every community across Texas depends on the health and wellbeing of its people. At USDA Rural Development, we believe that everyone should live in a healthy and safe environment.
As we celebrate National Rural Health Day, let’s remember that a strong community is rooted in its people. The theme “Power of Rural” gives us the opportunity to recognize the incredible efforts of health care providers and others dedicated to addressing the unique health care needs of rural Texas.
At USDA, we are doing what we can to support those selfless individuals and organizations and to help them better serve their communities.
USDA has many programs and resources that help rural communities improve their health and quality of life. We want to provide health care leaders and organizations with the information they need to take full advantage of these programs. For example, right here in Fayette and Lee County Texas, the USDA emergency rural healthcare grant replaced 10-year-old pre-owned capsa carts and helped to procure a building automation system to monitor temperature, humidity and airflow for St. Mark’s Medical Center. The emergency grant also provided patient monitors, bedside patient monitors, telemetry transmitters, central monitoring stations, and vital sign monitors in the Emergency Department, Surgical Services, Ambulatory Care Services, and the Medical/Surgical inpatient unit.
In Comanche County, Legacy Estate Long Term Care, a notfor- profit care center owned by Comanche County Consolidated Hospital District (CCCHD), received the financial backing needed through the USDA Community Facilities Guaranteed Loan Program to address critical infrastructure needs to improve the living conditions for the elderly population.
On this National Rural Health Day, USDA is excited to announce the new USDA Rural Health Program Index. This inventory makes it easy for rural community leaders and others to identify which USDA programs and resources can help with specific health needs in their communities.
This index is a curated library of USDA programs and resources that support rural health. I encourage everyone in rural Texas to use the index to find the assistance that’s right for their community.
USDA is committed to serving those who live in rural areas, like the small towns and communities so many of us in Texas call home. Expanding access to quality, affordable health care is essential to creating and sustaining thriving rural communities.
At USDA, we work hard to help rural and Tribal communities overcome challenges to health care access. Our programs ensure people have access to locally sourced nutritious foods and that those in remote areas have highspeed internet so they can access telemedicine services when they need them. USDA also partners with communities to build hospitals in rural areas and keep others open during times of financial stress and unforeseen hardships.
As I’ve traveled across Texas, visiting our rural communities, I’ve seen the unique challenges people face accessing the health care resources they need and deserve. I’ve also seen how USDA programs have helped meet those needs.
The USDA Rural Health Program Index will contribute to more stories like Legacy Estate Long Term Care in Texas and across the country. Join us this National Rural Health Day, Thursday, Nov. 21, as we celebrate all we have done and will continue to do to keep rural Texas healthy. Because, when rural people thrive, all of America thrives.
You can learn more about USDA’s programs and explore the Rural Health Program Index on our website. *****
Daniel Torres is the Acting State Director of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD) in Texas. Prior to coming into this role, he served as Deputy State Director in Texas.