Centre for Rural Health Research

Hello Rural Communities! The Centre for Rural Health Research is reaching out to rural communities in B.C. about an ongoing research study to understand rural and remote community priorities for health care: the Rural Evidence Review project (https://crhr.med.ubc.ca/apru/rer/). Through telephone interviews and an online survey, our team has heard from more than 1,500 people across 211 rural B.C communities about their health care needs and priorities. At this link: bit.ly/RER...surveysummary, you will find a summary write-up of the survey findings and a map of the survey responses across the province. The survey will be active until March 2021 and is available here: bit.ly/ruralevidencereview. We heard from survey participants about the difficulties experienced when travelling to other communities for care. To follow up, we have created a survey to understand patients’ out-of-pocket costs when travelling for health care. If you have ever had to travel for care, we want to hear from you! At this link: bit.ly/CostsRural, you will find more information about the survey. Thank you for your support! Please note that if you 'like', comment on or share this post, there is a chance that you can be identified as participating in the above-mentioned survey studies.

Are you a resident of a rural or remote B.C. community? We need your help to identify the health care priorities and needs that matter the most to your community! Take our survey, participate in an interview, or contact the Coordinator of the Rural Evidence Review project to learn more. Please note that if you 'like', comment on or share this post, there is a chance that you can be identified as participating in the Rural Evidence Review's outreach study.

The Centre for Rural Health Research is actively leading several research projects in the province. Read below for an overview of our current projects and follow the links for more details! The goal of the RURAL EVIDENCE REVIEW project is to work with rural citizens and communities to provide high quality, useful evidence for rural health care planning in British Columbia. To do this, we: (1) ask rural citizens about the health care priorities that matter the most to them and... their communities, (2) review the evidence about what we hear, and (3) share what we learn with policy makers and health administrators in B.C. To learn more about the project, our research team, and how you can help, check out our website! https://crhr.med.ubc.ca/apru/rer/ BUILDING BLOCKS TO SUSTAINABLE RURAL MATERNITY CARE: THE NORTH ISLAND PROJECT is a two-year project looking at how to sustain rural maternity care in North Vancouver Island. The objectives are three-fold: 1) To understand challenges faced by North Island women and families in accessing maternity care; 2) To understand barriers local care providers and administrators face in providing sustainable maternity services to the North Island; and 3) To determine system supports needed to allow for the provision of sustainable maternity services to North Island women and families. To learn more and to follow the work done to date, visit our page at https://crhr.med.ubc.ca/north-island-choice-and-place-of-b/ The RURAL SURGICAL AND OBSTETRICAL NETWORKS EVALUATION will help to inform decision making around network development and improvement. The Evaluation will also provide insight into whether RSONs are helping to sustain and enhance surgical and obstetrical care for rural populations in BC. Follow this link to learn more! https://crhr.med.ubc.ca//rural-surgical-obstetrical-netwo/

The Building Blocks to Sustainable Rural Maternity Care (The North Island Project) team hosted several discussions in the North Island to understand what it will take to build an interprofessional maternity care team in the North Island. We talked with mothers, local physicians, nurses and other allied health professionals as well as with community members and key stakeholders. pour discussions were graphically recorded by the talented Kelly Foxcroft-Poirier - iiiumqa. Follow these links to view them! https://med-fom-crhr.sites.olt.ubc.ca//Building-Blocks-Dec https://med-fom-crhr.sites.olt.ubc.ca//12/NI-Dec-5-2018_1.

Are you from Creston, Fernie, Golden, or Revelstoke? Have you or a family member had surgery in the last 2 years. If you answered "yes" to those questions, we would like to hear your experience! We are conducting an evaluation study of Rural Surgical and Obstetrical Networks (RSON) in BC. RSON aims to support and sustain surgical and obstetrical services in rural BC communities. For more information on the RSON evaluation study, please visit: https://crhr.med.ubc.ca//rural-surgical-obstetrical-netwo/ If you are interested in participating or want to learn more about the RSON Evaluation Study, please contact Anshu at anshu.parajulee(at)ubc.ca

In the Canadian province of British Columbia alone, more than 1,000 rural women must travel more than 100 kilometers to give birth each year. This causes stress and anxiety and, in some instances, adverse maternal and newborn outcomes. Women who have to travel more than 4 hours have more than a three times higher rate of perinatal mortality. Where was I born, Mama? Is a documentary short film produced by the Centre for Rural Health Research to shed light on the implications of the loss of local maternity services for rural women and their families. Watch the short film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKyrPEARNpk