Humphreys County Memorial Hospital Rural Health Outreach Program

Topics	Children Health promotion and disease prevention Minorities Networking and collaboration
States served	Mississippi
Description	The project's main goals were to increase the numbers of K - 12 students who are covered by health insurance, who use the health care services provided, and who follow up on recommended health care; to increase transportation to primary and specialty health providers; and to decrease the number of families of K - 12 students who are noncompliant in regard to their children's health needs.
Services offered	Using Peer Health Advisors in the junior and senior high schools was one program innovation that facilitated dissemination of accurate health information to students who are at the stage in life where they will make many decisions that will affect their future health and opportunities. This group of advisors also can serve as a pool of potential local health care professionals who can be groomed for success and one day return to serve the community.
Results	The project's sixth-grade Hepatitis B Vaccination Program was one of its most successful components. This program involved the cooperation of parent, schools, local health care providers, and the health department. Volunteer nurses gave free shots to students at school, and the health department provided the vaccines. Although infants now receive the hepatitis B vaccine, most adolescents are not protected. The 2003 - 04 school year will be the last year before the incoming sixth-grade class will already have been inoculated. This catch-up vaccination program has inoculated 1,080 students over the 3-year grant period. Of these, 85 percent of the participants were Black and 15 percent were White.
Replication	HCHN is the major force behind the success of this project. Forming an ongoing local health network of health care providers, schools, and social services agencies that meet on a regular basis is necessary for continuing projects that initially have outside funding. All of the activities of the Humphreys County Memorial Hospital Rural Health Outreach Program could easily be applied to other rural communities that have established local health networks. Exceptionally poor communities with limited resources to address enormous problems need extensive and organized networking to locate and utilize existing resources.
Source	Outreach Sourcebook, Vol. 9, 1999-2002, Office of Rural Health Policy
Contact person	Melissa Hall Goodman Humphreys County Memorial Hospital P.O. Box 510 Belzoni, MS 39038 Phone: (662) 247-2676 Fax: (662) 247-4114 E-mail: plndev@capital2.com
Date added	July 11, 2005

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