Class Recordings

A Provider’s Perspective on Building High Quality Cancer Care Programs in Rural Areas

Rural community hospitals are a critical source of cancer care for patients in their catchment area. In the midst of resource constraints and competing priorities, rural hospitals often must be strategic and innovative in their pursuit to provide quality comprehensive cancer care. When Dr. Kollmorgen came on as Medical Director of Oncology Services at Mahaska Hospital in Oskaloosa, Iowa, he saw an opportunity to bring his expertise  as a surgical oncologist and experience with CoC accreditation to bear on developing their cancer program. As part of this work, Mahaska has become a…
Date: March 3, 2026

Harnessing community strengths for research and interventions on wildfire smoke in the Yakima Valley of Washington state

Millions of pregnant women and children are exposed to dangerous levels of wildfire smoke in the US every year, a public health crisis predicted to accelerate in coming years. While there exist effective methods for reducing wildfire smoke exposure, many families face barriers to implementing recommendations that could protect child health. We will describe a study in the rural, agricultural Yakima Valley in Washington state aimed at understanding the barriers in order to develop programs that could best support families in future wildfire smoke events. We’ll highlight the partnership…
Date: February 25, 2026

Implementing Scalable Exercise Interventions to Address Supportive Care Disparities in Rural Cancer Survivors

Cancer survivors in rural areas face unique challenges in accessing supportive care, including structured exercise programs that are proven to improve physical function, mental health, and quality of life. Dr. Jess Gorzelitz leads research focused on implementing and evaluating a distance-based, strength-focused exercise intervention tailored for older, rural cancer survivors. Leveraging the Iowa Cancer Affiliate Network (I-CAN), this webinar will describe existing disparities in access to exercise oncology resources and use of remote exercise programs to inform long-term behavior…
Date: January 6, 2026

Addressing Rural Cancer Care Through a Network Model

Rural cancer care presents unique challenges for health professionals, including limited access to oncology specialists, fragmented care coordination, and a lack of infrastructure to support evidence-based treatment and quality monitoring. These barriers contribute to significant disparities in cancer outcomes for rural populations. To address these gaps, the Iowa Cancer Affiliate Network (I-CAN) offers a novel, collaborative model that strengthens rural hospitals’ capacity to deliver high-quality cancer care. By adapting a network-based framework, I-CAN enhances multidisciplinary…
Date: November 4, 2025

Social Connectedness and Improving the Health of Rural Communities

Social isolation and loneliness are major risk factors for poor health and mortality. Many members of rural communities are at risk for social isolation and therefore also at risk for poor health and quality of life. Global community health research has identified strategies to reduce social isolation and to promote wellbeing in rural communities. This presentation will review possible interventions for improving rural community health through social connectedness. 

Speaker bio:

Hannah Fields MD MSPH is currently practicing family medicine at Madison…
Date: November 20, 2024

Promoting Walking for Health in Rural Communities

This webinar is part of the Rural Health Webinar Series in November 2024.

Rural American adults have higher rates of chronic physical activity-related illness and are less active than their urban counterparts, with less than 20% meeting U.S. physical activity guidelines of 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week. Walking is the most common form of physical activity and people who walk are more likely to meet physical activity guidelines. However, rural…
Date: November 14, 2024

When Your Community Is Your Hospital

This webinar is part of the Rural Health Webinar Series in November 2024.

In 2022, the North State Partnership to Expand Health Information Access formed in the rural northern region of California, after recognizing the lack of access to healthcare, the need for access to health information, and the importance of engagement with local, on-the-ground community health workers. The partnership included collaborators from academic institutions and community-based organizations. After assessing the regional capacity for delivering health information education,…
Date: November 13, 2024

Facilitating Rural Access to Quality Health Information through Little Free Libraries

This webinar is part of the Rural Health Webinar Series in November 2024.

This webinar addresses a NNLM grant-funded community partnership between a public library and a university health science library to add health education components to 30 new public library-sponsored Little Free Libraries built on rural county properties. The project goals were to improve rural residents’ health literacy skills, increase access to quality health information for diverse populations, and raise awareness of NIH’s All of Us Research Program. 

Speaker Bios:

…
Date: November 7, 2024

Building Healthy, Resilient Communities in Florida’s Rural Panhandle

The title and focus of this presentation changed after we advertised it. Here's the updated title:

An exploration of the collaborative partnerships between public libraries and harm reduction organizations across the United States

This webinar is part of the Rural Health Webinar Series in November 2024.

Dr. Margaret Sullivan was recently awarded an IMLS grant to explore the relationship between the opioid use population and how they utilize their local library. This presentation will provide an overview of preliminary data from opioid…
Date: November 6, 2024

The Addict's Wake: Virtual Film Screening & Panel Discussion Webinar

The Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) has partnered with Glory Girl Productions to present the film, Addict’s Wake. The movie shares stories of substance use disorder and treatment told from the survivor’s perspective. Following a week of virtual film screenings beginning September 19th at 8am CT and ending September 26th at 12pm CT, a panel discussion including the film’s producer, Lisa Hall, Dr. William Cooke, a community physician and author of …
Date: September 26, 2024