Today, November 21, is National Rural Health Day

The Wayne County Commissioners today proclaimed today NATIONAL RURAL HEALTH DAY throughout the county. The Wayne Memorial family – Wayne Memorial Hospital, Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers and Wayne Woodlands Manor Long-Term Care – was commended for its growth and financial stability. Together, the Wayne Memorial entities employ between 1,000-1,300 individuals. Wayne Memorial Hospital is the largest private employer in Wayne County.

In turn, Wayne Memorial administrators thanked the county commissioners for their support, most recently helping to underwrite bonds to build our new private-room patient tower.

An estimated 57 million people – nearly one in five Americans – live in rural and frontier communities throughout the United States. “The hospitals and providers serving these rural communities not only provide quality patient care, but they also help keep good jobs in rural America,” said Teryl Eisenger, CEO of the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health ( NOSORH).

The commissioners and the NOSORH also say this is a day to call attention to the unique healthcare needs of rural communities such as accessibility issues, a shortage of healthcare providers and the needs of both an aging population and the under-and-uninsured. Wayne Memorial, working to address these needs on an ongoing basis, joined the Rural Health Model this year whose intent is to “keep people healthy and out of the hospital.”

Wayne Memorial can’t do it without you, our staff at the hospital, CHC and Wayne Woodlands, our committed board members, Auxiliary and volunteers. Today, National Rural Health Day, we thank you all.

Photo, seated l. to r.: Hugh Rechner, WMH/WMHS Board Chair; David Hoff, CEO; Jim Pettinato, RN, Director Patient Care Services; Lisa Champeau, PR manager. Standing, l. to r.: Brian Smith, Wayne  County commissioner (WCC); Kim Rickard, WC Community Network Specialist; Wendell Kay, WCC; Joseph Adams, WCC.