COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — Kristen Blum is the new president of CHI Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs. She takes on multiple challenges in the shifting world of healthcare and one significant issue we discussed: access to healthcare in rural parts of Iowa.
- “I think access to services is going to continue to be a really significant focus for rural areas,” Blum said. “I think it’s not a new issue or challenge. But I think it’s becoming even more difficult.”
- On telemedicine: “If you're from a rural area and you have to drive an hour and a half to your hospital to get surgery, wouldn’t it be nice if you did have to drive an hour and half?” Instead, local clinical staff can work with the surgeon, who is remote, to do the before-and-after care.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Access to healthcare in rural areas is a recurring theme as I report around Southwest Iowa.
I’m neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel.
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to ask the new President of CHI Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs about the challenges of providing care in smaller communities.
Kristen Blum was four days into her job as the hospital president when we sat down for a wide-ranging interview. CHI has clinics and critical access hospitals in rural Southwest Iowa.
“I think access to services is going to continue to be a really significant focus for rural areas,” Blum said. “I think it’s not a new issue or challenge. But I think it’s becoming even more difficult.”
She says part of the problem for rural areas is that a shrinking population makes it tough to financially support healthcare services. Attracting providers to rural areas is also a problem.
One solution: telemedicine.
“If you're from a rural area and you have to drive an hour and a half to your hospital to get surgery, wouldn’t it be nice if you did have to drive an hour and half?”
Instead, local clinical staff can work with the surgeon, who is remote, to do the before-and-after care.
We also talked about the growing need for mental health practitioners as well as counties that lack physicians or nurse midwives who can deliver babies — sometimes called “OB deserts.”
I’ll share more of my interview with Blum in the coming weeks.
