The National Center for Frontier Communities, formerly the Frontier Education Center, issues reports on a variety of topics important to frontier communities. These communities are too often left out of policy discussions due to a lack of understanding of their unique needs and the lack of influence of such small and widely dispersed populations.
Although some frontier issues overlap with rural issues, in many cases frontier communities' needs are unique due to their isolation and the structure of their economies. The Center has documented that the difficulties in accessing health care and social services in rural areas are even more extreme in frontier areas. The Center has been at the forefront of documenting these differences.
NEW! - Public Health and Information Technology at the United States-Mexico Border
Meeting Summary - "Public Health on the U.S.-Mexico Border and the Use of Health Information Technology"
The paper on Border Health was preceded by a meeting of the Frontier and Rural Expert panel in Tucson, Arizona on March 8-9, 2006. Read the meeting summary.
Special Needs
NEW! - Wellness Meeting Summary - Meeting the Challenge: Creating Frontier Wellness Programs that Overcome Social and Geographic Disparities
Impact of Seasonal Population Variations on Frontier Communities: Maintenance of the Healthcare Infrastructure
This paper, linked through the HRSA website, reports the experience of three communities working to meet the health care needs of both the permanent local population as well as the seasonal residents and visitors. The three frontier communities selected are Skagway, Alaska; Quartzsite, Arizona; and Lake City/Hinsdale County, Colorado.
Emergency Medical Services in Frontier Areas:
Volunteer Community Organizations
This report, linked through the HRSA website, provides information on paid and volunteer Emergency Medical Services (EMS) workers in frontier and rural areas. Current challenges to the continuation of volunteer Emergency Medical Services in some areas are cited including: volunteer availability, aging of the workforce; standardized testing requirements; and demands of the primary workplace. Innovative practices are highlighted and suggestions for future solutions are offered.
Training Community Health Workers:
Using Technology and Distance Education
April 2006
This paper provides a brief overview of some programs and issues related to the use of technology and distance education to train community health workers in frontier areas. Issues include the use of consistent definitions, the appropriate technology format for the learner and access to that technology, cultural competency /proficiency of faculty, support for faculty and students, and the assurance of quality.
Seasonal Population Fluctuations - February 2003
Addressing the Nursing Shortage:
Impacts and Innovations in Frontier America - December 2004
The national nursing shortage is well documented. This report looks at how that shortage affects rural and frontier communities and the strategies that are being developed to address the shortage. Includes maps of hospital nurse shortage areas.
Issues Brief
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren:
Caring for Children in the Frontier - December 2004
"Grandparents are increasingly becoming responsible for their children's children." This Issues Brief charts the growth of this phenomenon and highlights the many issues facing both the caregivers and the children that are cared for in various kinship settings. It highlights research to date and suggests that "more research is needed to find effective information channels to reach rural and frontier grandparents...and to design services that are accessible and acceptable."
Includes information from a 2003 Census Brief on this issue and maps showing the scope of the problem nationally and in frontier counties.
Caring for Alzheimer's Patients in the Frontier - a report of a June 2005 conference which focused on providing services to Alzheimer's clients in the demanding environment of Frontier communities.The meeting was organized in Cheyenne, WY by the Technical Assistance Center for the Administration on Aging's Alzheimer's Disease Demonstration Grants to States National Resource Center. Frontier Education Center's executive director, Carol Miller, was a presenter.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Frontier Communities: Leading the Way
with Innovative Approaches to Behavioral Health
An extreme shortage of mental health professionals, lack of transportation and financial barriers create obstacles to providing mental health and substance abuse services in small communities. This report presents several programs from around the country which provide innovative approaches to overcoming the barriers to care.
Frontier Youth: Living on the Edge
High risk behaviors are increasing among rural and frontier youth. Community and school-based prevention techniques are assessed and recommendations for addressing these behavioral challenges are offered.
Issue Paper
"Access to Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services in Frontier Areas: Time for a New Generation of Providers"
CREATIVE MODELS AND PROGRAMS
Extended Stay Primary Care
Frontier communities have been working for years to create a facility, which, while not a hospital, would still be able to provide limited in-patient care in an extended stay clinic. This report was the first to look at the need and demand for extended stay primary care clinics in frontier areas. This report was developed in response to a request by the by US Senate Appropriations Committee.
ECONOMIC HEALTH
Innovations: Bear Lake Memorial Hospital, Montpelier, Idaho
This Innovations issue recognizes the exemplary work that Bear Lake Memorial Hospital has done to improve both economic health and health care in the Bear Lake Valley of southeastern Idaho. The publication describes the far reaching work of the Hospital and its Foundation in cooperation with community and regional organizations to strengthen the economy of the area and to expand the availability of modern, high quality health care throughout a very large service area.
Innovations: Hidalgo Medical Services, Lordsburg, New Mexico
The first in a series of case studies of successful communities which have strengthened not only their health care system, but also the economic health of the community.Hidalgo Medical Services (HMS) is recognized because of its success in bringing comprehensive medical and dental health services to an isolated area of southwest New Mexico. Following its success with health care, HMS reached out to help revive a local economic development agency that had been inactive for over 25 years. The resulting cooperation among agencies and government officials has energized the local economy.
FRONTIER BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Frontier Education Center Bibliography
Descriptions of journal articles and books relevant to frontier issues, arranged by categories including: defining rural and frontier, economic development, health care, gerontology, and bibliographies and references.
Peter Beeson's 2002 Rural Bibliography
"Peter Beeson's Rural Reading List" has been a popular offering on this website. Here is his latest Rural Bibliography which he calls a "working draft." It is a rich source of rural fiction and nonfiction reading matter.
Peter Beeson's "Original" Rural Reading List
