Educating and Informing

The Center for Rural Health is committed to enhancing the understanding of rural health issues in our state, region, and the nation. We work with a wide range of rural stakeholders to:

• Raise awareness about the challenges facing rural communities
• Help people working on rural issues share their experiences and learn from one another
• Support informed decision making

What We Can Do for You

In the area of educating and informing, we offer:

• Key North Dakota rural statistics, maps and supporting information via fact sheets and other publications.
• Presentations by our staff on a wide variety of rural health topics. For more details or to request a presentation, see our speakers bureau.
• Professional development opportunities at the Dakota Conference on Rural and Public Health as well as other workshops and meetings.
• E-mail updates on state and national resources and opportunities via the Center for Rural Health Update
• The Rural Health Information Hub's website offers an online clearinghouse with information on 80 key rural health and human services topics and all 50 states, examples of successful programs and approaches, tools to support grant writing, free customized assistance and much more.

Our Expertise

Our staff and faculty present and publish on a wide range of rural health topics at the national, regional, tribal, state and community levels. We also serve on a variety of national and regional boards, committees, and taskforces, all with the aim of helping to inform people, organizations, and policy discussions about rural issues.

We provide information to the North Dakota Legislature, the Governor's office, and our state's federal delegation, as well as to legislative staff across the country.

The Center for Rural Health has operated the Rural Health Information Hub for over 15 years and also oversees one other national online information portal, the Rural Health Research Gateway program.

Key Contact

Kristine Sande, MBA - Associate Director

Most Recent Publications

• Health Professional Shortage Area Scoring & Data Sources
  A fact sheet explaining the basic criteria and data used in scoring Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) for the primary care, mental health, and dental health disciplines.
  Project: Primary Care Office
  Author(s): North Dakota Primary Care Office
  Date: September 2020
  Type: Fact Sheet
• Rural Health Research: Gateway's Top Three Countdown
  The Rural Health Research Gateway is funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy with the primary purpose of sharing the work of the federally-funded Rural Health Research Centers. The annual website analytics offer a glimpse into the public's rural health research interests.
  Project: Rural Health Research Gateway
  Author(s): Schroeder, S.
  Date: September 2020
  Type: Fact Sheet
• Scrubs Project Report
  Project report for Rural Collaborative Opportunities for Occupational Learning (R-COOL-Health) Scrubs Camps and Scrubs Academies.
  Projects: Area Health Education Center Program, Rural Collaborative Opportunities for Occupational Learning in Health (R-COOL-Health) Scrubs Program, State Office of Rural Health
  Author(s): Nissen, K.
  Date: September 2020
  Type: Report
• Dental Pain Management in Dental Clinics, Emergency Rooms, and Primary Care Settings in North Dakota
  This fact sheet describes emergency room data and results from a survey among North Dakota dentists to better understand dental pain management, dentists' screening practices, and risk factors associated with and predictive of opioid prescribing behavior.
  Project: Oral Health Research and Evaluation
  Author(s): Schroeder, S., Knutson, S.
  Date: June 2020
  Type: Fact Sheet
• Farm Stress: Facts, Impact of COVID-19, and Resource and Training Needs of Mental Health Care Providers
  This brief shares feedback and data about farm stress, mental health implications, and COVID-19.
  Project: Mountain Plains Mental Health Technology Transfer Center
  Author(s): Schroeder, S., Heitkamp, T., Clark, B., Holiday, E., Breigenzer, A., Johnson, S.
  Date: June 2020
  Type: Fact Sheet

Most Recent Presentations

• Approaching Mental Health in America - Adapting Care and Identifying Opportunities
  Presented by Schroeder, S. on Oct 14, 2020 at the Public Policy Exchange, Webinar
• Preliminary Results of the Native Elder Maltreatment Survey (NEMS)
  Presented by Gray, J. on Sep 30, 2020 at the Indigenous Research Collaborative to End Violence, Webinar
• Rural Health: Community Dynamics, Community Health, and Community Solutions
  Presented by Gibbens, B. on Aug 05, 2020 at the University of Mary, Common and Chronic Health Care Management graduate class, Webinar
• Elder Abuse and Grandparent Abuse
  Presented by Gray, J. on Jul 30, 2020 at the Shoshone Bannock Tribe, Webinar
• A Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) eToolkit: Collaborative Framework to Build Capacity for Community Engagement for SORHs
  Presented by Nissen, K., Reiten, J., Breigenzer, A. on Jul 15, 2020 at the State Offices of Rural Health Region E Meeting, via Zoom