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Strengthening Rural Communities through Prevention
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Every Family Deserves a Healthy Start
Local Health Districts Support Healthy Pregnancies During Black Maternal Health Week
Pregnancy is often a time of joy and uncertainty. During Black Maternal Health Week, April 11-17, the Local Health District is working to help more families experience safe, supported and healthy pregnancies.
Black women are twice as likely to die from a pregnancy-associated cause than White women and more likely to die from cardiac related causes. Doulas, BabyCare, and the Women Infants and Children (WIC) programs provide support and connect families to healthcare, nutritious food, and items needed to support healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.
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Rural Partner Spotlight
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Early Impact Virginia, Alliance for Early Childhood Home Visiting- What Is Home Visiting & Why It Matters in Rural Communities
Families in rural communities often face long travel distances, limited transportation, and shortages of health and early childhood providers. Virginia’s free home visiting programs help close these gaps by bringing trained nurses, parent educators, and family support specialists directly into the home.
These programs support healthy pregnancies, maternal well‑being, parenting skills, and early childhood development. They also help families access health care, developmental screenings, and essential community resources like transportation, employment, and housing assistance. Research shows that home visiting strengthens parenting confidence and promotes healthy growth and development for young children—benefits that are especially meaningful in rural areas where services can be harder to reach.
More than 70 home visiting programs operate across Virginia at no cost to eligible pregnant women and families with children under five.
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Rural Virginia in Focus
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Policy Updates
CMS Issues New Alert on Hospital Nutrition Service Requirements- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Quality and Safety Special Alert Memo on March 30, 2026, reminding hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals about their obligations related to patient food and nutrition services. The memo clarifies that facilities must provide organized dietary services that support patient health and align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, ensuring meals are safe, appropriate, and nutritionally balanced to comply with federal regulations and guidance. It also makes recommendations for hospital inpatient menus, including limiting ultra-processed foods; replacing refined grains with whole grains; prioritizing minimally processed protein sources; and emphasizing vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, seafood, and healthy fats.
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Funding Focus
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HRSA Announces More Than $135 Million to Expand Nutrition Services and Strengthen Rural Health Workforce
APRIL 7, 2026— The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced more than $135 million in new funding opportunities to expand nutrition services and strengthen the rural health workforce. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., alongside HRSA Administrator Tom Engels and Representative Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06), announced this important investment during a Preventative Care Roundtable with key stakeholders.
Application opens, April 21, 2026
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Workforce Corner
VDH Workforce Incentive Program Highlights
Conrad 30 J-1 Visa Waiver Program
Application Opens: October 16, 2025 – April 16, 2026
This program supports the recruitment of international medical graduates to serve in underserved areas across the Commonwealth. Note: Due to the federal shutdown, this program is only open to foreign medical graduates (FMGs) who were admitted in or acquired J-1 nonimmigrant status on or before September 30, 2025.
NRHA Career Center
Take advantage of our job seeker account features below to help you do your research, find the right job opportunity, and get your experience and skill set in front of your ideal employer.
3RNET - New Profession added - Dental Hygienist, Public Health
The Nation’s Most Trusted Resource for Health Professionals Seeking
Careers in Rural and Underserved Communities. It is the job board when it comes to rural and underserved opportunities for over 300 different health care professions & specialties.
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Resource Spotlight
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HRSA Launches New Data Resources to Support Health Workforce Planning
HRSA’s National Center for Health Workforce Analysis (NCHWA) released three new data resources to support health workforce planning in 2026:
Health Workforce Explorer: An interactive dashboard with national snapshots of 40 health occupations.
Updated Health Workforce Projections: National and state-level supply and demand estimates for 2023–2038.
Area Health Resources Files (AHRF): Updated data from 1999–2024, with a dashboard visualizing workforce trends across key health professions.
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Pathways for Rural Progress
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Highland County FFA & 4-H Agriculture and Natural Resources Field Day -"Ag Day"
Highland County Fairground, 386 Myers Moon Road, Monterey, VA
April 17, 2026, 9 am – 2 pm
This event is a fantastic opportunity for the community to engage with agriculture and understand its significance in their lives. Bath Community Hospital will participate in and advance our "Food Is Medicine Pilot Program" in partnership with the Virginia State Office of Rural Health, adding to the educational experience.
It is part of the National FFA “Food for America” program, aiming to empower FFA members to educate younger students about food production and its origins, connecting them to the farm and their own tables.
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Virginia Primary Care Office (PCO) Stakeholder Quarterly Office Hours 3
Introduction to HPSA Strategies and National Health Service Corps (NHSC) site certification
April 27, 2026, at 1pm EST
The presentation will include:
- National Health Service Corps (NHSC): Advice and Updates
- Application process for site certification
- Examples of appropriate documentation
- Brief History of Shortage Designation
- Breakdown HPSA Types
- Stakeholder Considerations
- HPSA Application Process
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49th Annual Rural Health Conference and 11th Rural Hospital Innovation Summit
A week filled with unique opportunities to advance rural health
May 19 - 22, 2026. Register before April 24 to save.
Also, consider attending these unique events prior to our main event programming:
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3RNET National Conference for the Future of Family Medicine
Join us in Kansas City, MO this summer!
July 30 – August 1, 2026
This is your biggest in-person marketing opportunity of the year with 3RNET. 3RNET makes it easy for you to show up and shine!
When you join us at FUTURE, you’re putting your state directly in front of family medicine residents and students who are actively planning their careers.
This is your chance to build relationships, spark interest, and grow your candidate pipeline face-to-face!
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Critical Access Conference
Kansas City, MO
September 16 - 18, 2026, Registration opens in May.
This is your chance to take advantage of over 40 educational and networking opportunities designed for clinic and hospital professionals and board members serving rural America.
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"Happy Valley"- The Mark and Sue Sours Community Garden at Page Memorial Hospital
On April 1st, SORH staff traveled to Valley Health’s Page Memorial Hospital (PMH) to meet with hospital leadership and learn more about the community garden that exists in an area at the back of the hospital property. PMH has partnered with the Town of Luray and the Page Alliance for Community Action (PACA) to plant, grow, maintain, and distribute fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the growing seasons via the garden and greenhouse there. Representatives from Bath Community Hospital were also in attendance in hopes for some cross pollination in the creation of a similar community garden in their own catchment area.
For updated garden information, follow on Facebook
Page Alliance for Community Action
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Partnering for Sustainable Local Healthcare
The Targeted Technical Assistance for Rural Hospitals Program (TTAP) is a federally-funded initiative that offers comprehensive technical assistance to rural hospitals to address financial
and operational challenges and maintain essential health services for their communities.
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On the Air
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Workplace Violence Prevention: Impacting Providers, Patients, with Kathy Griffis
Check out our latest episode featuring Kathy Griffis, Chief Operating Officer of Titus Regional Medical Center in Mount Pleasant, TX. Focuses on her facility's recent efforts to reduce violence and ensure safe healthcare environments for their staff and patients. Part 3 in a 3-part series from the December 2025 Health Innovation Potluck held in Hutchinson, Kansas.
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Clinician well-being is a strategy to keep good doctors
Joining us in this episode is Dr. Tait Shanafelt, chief wellness officer of Stanford Medicine, alongside Dr. Heather Spies, who is physician director of clinician experience and well-being at Sanford Health. Together they'll discuss clinician well-being as a strategy, leadership, culture, and the power of listening in rural health care.
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Healthy Rural Living
Virginia Plan for Well-Being 2025 -2029
Offers a data and community-driven roadmap to improve health outcomes and ensure that all Virginians live in conditions that allow them to thrive. Includes statistics on social determinants of health, infant mortality, firearm-related deaths and injury, obesity, mental health, substance use disorder, and housing. Features a county-level map showing rates of drug overdose deaths as of 2021. Mentions rural throughout.
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Maternal Health Focus
WIC Health Online Nutrition Education Resources
Access thousands of helpful tips and resources from your computer, smart phone, or tablet at any time. There is no limit to how often or how much you can learn!
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Follow Us!
"Like" us on Facebook and visit our website to receive updates on Virginia rural health issues and important messages from our community partners.
Visit the VA-SORH Facebook Page | Visit our VA-SORH Website
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