Friday meeting in Cape to gather data for rural health plan

Rural health issues will be the topic of a town hall meeting Friday to gather input for a statewide rural health plan.

The Missouri Office of Primary Care and Rural Health, the Missouri Foundation for Health and the Missouri Rural Health Association are sponsoring the public meeting at 11 a.m. Friday at the Cape Girardeau Public Library in the Hirsch meeting room.

"For many rural Missourians, the access to care locally is more of an issue than it is in an urban setting," said Suzanne Alewine, executive director of the Missouri Rural Health Association, a not-for-profit group. "People have to drive further to get to a doctor or a dentist or for mental health care."

Topics to be discussed include health care access, social services, education and the economy in rural Missouri.

Friday's meeting is one of more than 15 being held around the state as research is compiled to be included in Missouri's next rural health plan, which the federal government requires states to submit every three years, Alewine said.

"We welcome anyone and everyone who is interested," she said.

Pertinent address:

711 N. Clark Ave., Cape Girardeau, MO