Rural Healthy People 2010

Rural Health Community Systems (RHCS) was created in 1997 when the CEO's of Ira Davenport, Noyes Hospital, and rural/Metro Medical Services Southern Tier formed an official "Rural Health Network." A rural health network is an administrative tool that has the flexibility to establish new systems that can be used by providers to plan, coordinate, and deliver health care services. This rural health network now covers all of Steuben county and the environs of Allegany, Livingston, Ontario, and other counties in the state of New York. The Rural Health Community Systems Rural Health Network decided to focus on emergency medical services (EMS) and to help EMS agencies in the county recruit and retain even more quality, dedicated, and knowledgeable volunteers. The Rural Health Network developed activities including a regional EMS system review, and EMS youth corps, hospital emergency department and EMS personnel integration, and a program to provide regional law enforcement vehicles with automatic external defibrillators for use in sudden cardiac arrest.

> More info

Martin Luther King Award

Both the Rural Health Community Systems Law Enforcement CPR-D Training Program and the Paramedic Integration Project were pronounced “Best Practices” by state bureaus in Albany. As a result Rural Health Community Systems won the prestigious ‘Martin Luther king, Jr. Community Health’ award. The network was also chosen to participate in the very exclusive National Rural Health Association committee to analyze the status, needs, and future ventures of rural EMS and develop recommendations for public policy. This work group produced a nationwide report that emphasized the necessity of EMS as the essential safety net for rural communities.