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accessHealthNews.net
October 2021
Volume 8 | Issue No. 50
T
ransportation is fundamental to
public health. Without affordable,
reliable access to transportation,
people may be unable to attend
health care appointments or
receive necessary medication
and preventive treatments. When
transportation is not an option, many
people will delay health care until
a crisis occurs, leaving them at the
mercy of emergency department
staffing and resources.
In rural areas, both transportation
and emergency services are
severely lacking, sometimes creating
a fatal impact. In Kaiser Health
News' emotional podcast series
Where It Hurts, Sarah Jane Tribble
interviews rural residents about the
closure of a critical access hospital
and its devastating effect on the
community.
In one interview, a woman describes
a seemingly unending night, chasing
the ambulance carrying her husband
to the hospital, only to realize the
emergency room was closed.
She waited for hours relying on
helicopters to transport her husband
to the next closest emergency room,
only to eventually be told none were
available, without being given a
reason why.
To fill transportation gaps in rural
Missouri, the Missouri Rural Health
Association (MRHA) hopes to help
community champions expand their
understanding of access barriers and
create sustainable transportation
solutions. MRHA partnered with
Missouri University (MU) Extension and
School of Medicine's Office of Health,
Outreach, Policy, and Education
(HOPE) to deliver the Mobility
Management Certification Program.
This program uses participants' lived
experience and understanding of
transportation in their communities
to develop a tangible action plan
to bridge transportation gaps across
multiple networks.
Mary Gordon, HealthTran director
at MRHA, partnered with MU
Extension's Sherry McDonald, Ed. D.
and Administrative Consultant II, to
develop the program's curriculum.
Gordon began working with MRHA
in 2014 and now oversees the
HealthTran volunteer driver service.
Through HealthTran, patients in need
of transportation to and from health
care appointments are connected
to volunteer drivers in the community.
HealthTran drivers and riders often
establish long-term connections,
creating sustainable transportation
options between friends and
neighbors.
Through the Mobility Management
Certification Program, Gordon hopes
to find similar success by connecting
the dots between silos and pairing
unused funding with existing
transportation networks. Mobility
management focuses on four key
pillars: coordination, collaboration,
advocacy for the unheard, and
liberated access to transportation.
Learn more about this collaboration
and other rural health highlights in
our editorial series covering MRHA's
2021 Get Link'd Conference.
PROGRAM DETAILS
The Mobility Management
Certification Program is funded
through the Federal Transportation
Administration (FTA) via I-CAM and
C-CAM grants used to develop the
curriculum in partnership with MU
Extension and HOPE. The course
features various interactive modules
that include podcasts, readings,
assessment quizzes, and more. The
training is self-guided and can be
completed between 4-12 weeks,
depending on the user's pace.
"We built it that way," Gordon
said. "We wanted it to be flexible
for everybody." While Community
Health Workers (CHWs) are a
natural fit for this training, Gordon
believes every background offers a
necessary perspective. "It could be
anybody," she said. People working
in transit systems, city administration,
community advocacy, and existing
transportation services all bring an
element that could further connect
the dots.
"MRHA works with so many health providers
and all of them are facing the same problem:
they have patients that need to get into care and
don't have access."
- Mary Gordon, MRHA HealthTran Director
