rural health

Fighting fires has evolved, but federal safety regulations haven’t changed for nearly half a century. Now the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed new safety standards. It's great news for career and paid firefighters, but volunteer departments say the new rules could bog them down with expensive and irrelevant regulations.

Missouri quietly restricted its policy for transgender residents to change the gender markers on their state IDs. For some people, it was the last straw. Plus: How Children’s Mercy researchers are working to make genetic testing more accessible in rural Kansas.

Missouri has some of the highest rates of tobacco usage in the country, the lowest cigarette tax and some of the most lax smoking policies. Some rural health departments and activists are pushing their own policies to change those statistics.

A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found working-age rural residents die from natural causes at a higher rate than their urban counterparts. And that gap has widened over the years.

Recent data from the Commonwealth Fund illustrates stark differences in the health care system in Kansas for white people and people of color.

Many hospitals are shuttering their labor and delivery units because insurance companies and Medicaid aren't reimbursing hospitals enough to cover the cost of births.

Since recreational weed was legalized in Missouri, thousands of residents say they get a greater high than from the pot they used to buy. Plus: Patients in Kansas are losing access to basic health care as independently owned pharmacies close.

As pharmacies close nationwide, some patients lose access to basic pharmaceutical care. These closures are hitting independently owned pharmacies in places like rural Kansas especially hard.

When the emergency room in Fort Scott, Kansas, closes next month, the next closest in-state facility will be 40 minutes away — and some patients may not make it that far. Mayor Matthew Wells says the closure shows the need for the Kansas Legislature to pass Medicaid expansion.

City and county officials are working to save ER services in the southeast Kansas community. If that doesn't work, they're trying to prepare by hiring more ambulance drivers.

The number of seniors living in rural America is rising, but resources are decreasing and facilities are closing. So residents of towns like Cuba, Missouri, and Louisburg and Osawatomie, Kansas, are rallying to provide elders with services and support.

Americans are becoming less and less likely to believe our fellow citizens are trying to do the right thing, and that has added to the crisis facing rural health care. Plus: Are Midwest homes prepared for more scorching summer days?