Improving rural health in South Carolina

Where you live determines how long you’re likely to live. And in South Carolina, more than a quarter of the population risks dying sooner from a preventable death simply because where they live is rural. With more than 744,000 rural residents statewide, inadequate health care is not just a small-town problem. Rural places represent a health care crisis for all of South Carolina. Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) have found themselves on the front lines of finding answers for improved rural health care. A pilot program that the two universities created called Healthy Me—Healthy SC has been two years in the making, and now it is positioned to activate on an even wider scale statewide. According to Ron Gimbel, chair of the Clemson University Department of Public Health Sciences and special assistant to the provost, success up to now has been on a relatively small scale. The next step is growing outreach and increasing the number of nurse practitioners, students, clinical staff and partnering physicians serving rural South Carolina with the goal of saving more lives. In Oconee County, Councilman Wayne McCall is concerned about the problems of the lack of health care in rural areas, especially parts of the county north of Walhalla. McCall has conferred with Gimbel about the possibility of re-opening the former county health department building in Walhalla as a lost-cost care facility.