Rural areas neglected at nation’s peril, report says

03/23/2005

Kevin Diaz, Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
March 23, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As Congress begins to shift more anti-terror money toward big cities and the coasts, a group of public health experts released a report Tuesday highlighting potential threats to the nation’s food and water supply that they say are “unique to rural America.”

Based on the recommendations of a national conference in St. Paul last September, the report concluded that “rural America is vulnerable to bioterrorism and other serious public health emergency threats,” and that rural health care systems must be strengthened.

The report was sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Public Health Preparedness and seven other organizations, including the Harvard School of Public Health.

“Though many perceive rural areas to be just farm land, plains and dense forest, much of the nation’s water supply, food supply and critical industries—power plants and water treatment facilities—are located in rural areas,” said Joshua Frances of the Harvard School of Public Health, who helped prepare report.

Rural members of Congress, who often vie with urban politicians for a share of public health and emergency preparedness funding, welcomed the report in Washington.

“We’ve never had this kind of back-up before,” said Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., who co-chairs the Congressional Rural Caucus.

“More resources are clearly needed,” said Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D. “The misguided decision to redirect [Centers for Disease Control] bioterrorism funds away from states to select cities will have real, detrimental effects on public health preparedness.”

The report—“Meeting the Challenges of Rural America”—argues that rural hospitals must prepare not only to care for rural Americans, but also to handle city dwellers injured in urban terrorism attacks.