Rural Healthcare
The US is a large country geographically with a relatively small population, so large parts of the US are dominated by rural development and small towns. These areas often are subjected to intractable problems more commonly thought of as typical of Third World countries.
I don't have a comprehensive solution but I've made a mental note of a few things that I think are adequately proven to recommend. I'm hoping that the process of writing about the topic will help me start figuring out a paradigm for how to approach using modern technology to start bringing rural areas up to speed so that there isn't such a dramatic difference in outcomes between urban areas and other areas.
Preventive health care is cheaper than waiting for people to get sick. A big part of that is educating people about best practices and good nutrition.
I think the US does an extremely poor job with regards to using the internet to put out useful information and COVID was a missed opportunity for figuring how to do that when lives are at stake.
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If you are in a rural area with a lot of small communities and farms and homesteads, I encourage you to create a LOCAL online resource covering health issues relevant to YOUR population.
A public health nurse could answer questions online and use that experience to write articles aimed at the needs of the local population.
In my experience, if you don't have ready access to an emergency room, you should actively foster a conservative, risk-averse culture where people work at getting enough rest, staying hydrated, taking breaks and defaulting to various best practices specific to the types of activities they pursue in order to avoid accidents.
I would also promote good nutrition and I encourage you to create custom information relevant to the needs of your community. This is in its infancy in my opinion.
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In the US, a common problem is that maternity wards in rural hospitals close because they don't see enough use to justify the expense.
The US has overly medicalized a LOT of things, childbirth being just one of them. There is a midwife in that area and that is possibly a more appropriate way to serve local need than a full-blown hospital department dedicated to childbirth, but Americans have grown accustomed to the idea that "babies MUST be born at a HOSPITAL," and never mind that a generation or two back, this was NOT the norm.
In a rural area, midwives or doulas who go to you are probably more practical and affordable than a hospital with a maternity ward. Everything I have read indicates that lack of care and information during the pregnancy increases the odds of requiring medical care due to a dangerous emergency situation at the time of birth.
Preventive care during the pregnancy means odds of being able to safely have the baby at home with a midwife go up. This is relatively cheap and doesn't require a hospital maternity ward if you do home visits and telehealth and provide an online source of health information locals can trust.
Taking care of the people doesn't have to mean replicating the manner in which healthcare is provided in western big cities. That's not cost effective for rural areas and small towns, which means frequently it's not done at all anyway.
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Some African country developed software that worked offline so they could do medical records portably knowing there's no internet service in rural villages and some African country began doing blood delivery by drone.
I read about both on Hacker News. Here is a search for articles about blood delivery drone and this article seems to be the one about medical records from bahmni.org.
I personally would like to see more apps that allow people to use a cell phone like a Star Trek medical tricorder.
I know we already have some health apps for things like checking your pulse and online services for tracking things like menstrual cycle. I would like to see more such things.
If you are a health care professional in a rural area, I encourage you to review existing apps and services and tell locals which ones are likely to be most helpful for their needs. Consider both health needs and logistical issues, such as spotty internet service, when reviewing apps and making recommendations.
And make a wish list and tell people what kind of health app you dream of and what features it needs. Lots of programmers would love to hear feedback like that so they can pursue a project knowing some people are likely to use it.
"I'm a nurse/doctor/whatever and what we desperately need in (geographic area) is an app for (health issue) which also fits (these technical constraints)."