For National Rural Health Day, celebrated annually on the third Thursday of November, the University of Vermont Extension’s Across the Fence program features Erika Ziller, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine, director of the Health Services Research Center, and director of the Northeast Rural Health Research Center—who knows firsthand why it’s harder to be healthy in rural Vermont.
Dr. Ziller faced her own challenges with unaffordable health insurance when she worked part time and her husband was a self-employed carpenter in rural Maine—their young family went uninsured for five anxiety-provoking years. This lived experience motivated her to pursue a career focused on health care policy and eventually led her to join the faculty at the Larner College of Medicine, where the commitment to policy and education initiatives around rural health resonated with her goals and values.
As an example, Ziller notes that Larner has committed to devoting resources and energy into creating a new program director around rural medical education. She adds, “They also are working to refine their curriculum to make sure the physicians they are training are equipped to go out and practice in rural places effectively, prepared to make a difference in rural communities across Vermont.”
National Rural Health Day is an opportunity to bring attention to and honor the efforts of rural health care providers, communities, organizations, State Offices of Rural Health, and other stakeholders dedicated to addressing the unique health care needs of rural America.
Across the Fence is a daily 15-minute television program co-produced by UVM Extension and WCAX-TV informing viewers about activities being conducted by University of Vermont faculty, staff, and students that benefit viewers and their communities. The longest-running farm, home, and community television program in the country, Across the Fence airs weekdays at 12:15 p.m. on WCAX-TV Channel 3.