Sky Lakes Collaborative Health Center, Klamath Falls Photo: Sky Lakes Medical Center
Volume XX | Issue 2 | Spring 2020
Cover Story

Transforming health care in rural Oregon

The grand opening of the $50 million Sky Lakes Collaborative Health Center in Klamath Falls celebrated much more than the completion of a successful building project. The December event marked the launch of a new way to educate medical professionals that community leaders hope will transform the face of rural health care.

The health challenges faced by rural Oregon are well known: Although more than one-third of residents live in rural communities, only about 10% of physicians practice there, leaving many areas without any primary care providers. Transportation and geography create barriers to existing care.  Significant health disparities are well documented in rural Oregon, where adults are 36% more likely to report their health status as fair or poor than are adults in urban areas.

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Community Vitality is a storytelling publication published since 2000. Send article ideas, questions or requests for past issues to communityvitality@tfff.org.

© 2000-2021 The Ford Family Foundation. Anne Kubisch, President; Mandy Elder, Editor; Megan Monson, Assistant Editor

Everyone counts in Oregon

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Report documents supports, challenges for transfer students

The Transfer Opportunity Program (TOP) at Umpqua Community College was a lifeline for first-generation college student Sierra Miller. TOP advisers directed her to scholarship opportunities, assisted...  Read More

Parenting education shows results

In Wallowa County, parenting educators offer a variety of public safety classes around bike helmets, winter sports, life jackets and fire prevention, as they step in to cover the hole in services...  Read More

Collaboration works to address trucker shortage

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Interest in politics sparked in high school

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Meagan Atiyeh named senior adviser

The leadership of The Ford Family Foundation’s Visual Arts Program has changed. Longtime senior adviser Kandis Brewer Nunn handed the reins to experienced arts manager Meagan Atiyeh in January. ...  Read More

Neighbors working together

Bilingual public education, traffic safety and a vision for more inclusive, united communities motivated residents in Molalla to get involved. The path to creating the change they wanted? Community...  Read More

Talking with children

Oregon author Shauna Tominey has lived in a lot of states and worked as a researcher and teacher with many kinds of families. “I have found that as I’ve worked with families in different settings,...  Read More

American Pickers

The Fall 2019 issue of Community Vitality featured the story of how the Southern Oregon community of Eagle Point is rebuilding Butte Creek Mill, a historic icon heavily damaged by fire on Christmas...  Read More

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