Rural Communities
Rural communities face unique barriers in accessing supports and services. For older adults, this includes access to senior nutrition programs. Programs serving rural communities must understand and address these challenges to meet the needs of older adults.
- Offering Chronic Disease Self-Management Education in Rural Areas— Article with tips for offering chronic disease self-management education in rural areas (National Council on Aging)
- Better Medicare Benefits Outreach in Rural Areas— Article with tips for improving Medicare benefits outreach in rural communities (National Council on Aging, 2022)
- How Physical Activity Helps Rural Older Adults Stay Strong and Steady— Article about an evidence-based program to improve physical fitness with fewer barriers (National Council on Aging, 2022)
- Benefits Outreach Resources— Information to help older adults access benefits, including food, health care, and financial assistance (National Council on Aging)
- Aging in Place in Small Urban and Rural Communities — Study that quantifies the costs for residents to live at home and ride public transportation versus moving to an assisted living facility (Small Urban and Rural Transit Center, 2017)
- Addressing Nutrition & Social Connection Needs of Rural Older Adults (YouTube) — One-hour webinar on nutrition & connection activities at three older adult nutrition programs during the pandemic, with accompanying presentation Nutrition & Social Connection Needs slides (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center, 2020)
- Understanding and Addressing Inequalities in the Food System— Webinar series (University of Missouri, 2020)
- Rural Oral Health Toolkit— Resources for developing and implementing oral health programs in rural communities (Rural Health Information Hub)
- Rural Suicide Prevention Toolkit— Resources to initiate and sustain evidence-based suicide prevention programs for rural residents (Rural Health Information Hub)
- Rural Health Information Hub Resources and Topics— Directory of resources for rural communities, organized by topic area (Rural Health Information Hub)
- Accessible Transportation Resource Center— Strategies that make transportation services more accessible for people with disabilities, older adults, family caregivers, and others in their support networks (Accessible Transportation Resource Center)