Podcast: Rural Nurses Improve Preventive Care for Wisconsin Farmers

Rand: From the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, I’m Rand Gardner with Healthcare 411: Information for better health.

Farmers often don’t get preventive care because they lack adequate health insurance or face barriers to seeing a health care professional regularly. As a result, treatable health problems often go undiagnosed and untreated. Nurses from the nonprofit Rural Health Initiative in Shawano County, Wisconsin, are working on innovative ways to change that.

Here’s Nurse Amanda Hatch:

Amanda: As one of the Rural Health Initiative’s registered nurses with a farming background, I visit farms in three Wisconsin counties on a regular basis. We provide free preventative health and occupational safety screenings to the farmers, their adult family members and employees. And by going to them, instead of having them take time away from the farm to come to us, we’re making a difference.

Rand: To learn more about this program, visit the AHRQ Innovations Exchange at innovations.ahrq.gov. Healthcare 411 is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.