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Success Stories

A mother and three daughters pose around a dining room table. There are lace curtains and blue wall in the background and some dishes on the table in the foreground.

“This is Home” – A Family Finds Their Forever Home in Calais, Maine

One of the first rooms Heather Gagne and her daughters began redecorating in their new home is the dining room, shown in the top photo. They have been busy repainting and making other updates. Raising a family in coastal Machias, Maine may sound lovely, but for Heather Gagne recent years proved stressful. There were few housing options in the Downeast community, and Heather was glad to find a rental home to…
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Use the filters below to find additional stories about how our programs have helped rural communities across the nation.

Search Results: 51 Stories
Medical staff monitor patients through video.

Rural doesn’t mean less

According to a Bureau of Health Workforce analysis published in November 2024, the average age of registered nurses across the United States was over 43 years old, while the population of Americans over age 65 is expected to increase from 58 to 82 million by 2050.These changes,… [Read More]
South Dakota
Health CareRural DevelopmentTechnology
HCCH Inspection Team wearing reflective hard hat

Expanded Healthcare will Increase Access to Care and Create Jobs in Bethany, Missouri

Big things are happening in Harrison County, and the new Harrison County Community Hospital (HCCH) facility is just the beginning of a transformational era for Harrison and surrounding counties.In the heart of Bethany, Missouri, nestled halfway between Kansas City and Des Moines… [Read More]
Missouri
Community FacilitiesHealth Care
Midwest Medical Center building

New Design Opens the Door to Improved Patient Care at Midwest Medical Center

A well-preserved 19th-century small town in northwest Illinois has a hidden gem. The Midwest Medical Center in Galena provides care close to home to its neighbors. The Center is classified as a ‘necessary provider due to its critical access status in a rural area. Visitors to… [Read More]
Illinois
Health Care
Marshall Browning Hospital Rehabilitation Center_1

USDA Rural Development Provides Grant to Expand Marshall Browning Hospital’s New Rehabilitation Center

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development provided a $1 million Community Facilities Emergency Rural Health Care Grant to help fund the recent rehabilitation center expansion at the Marshall Browning Hospital (MBH) in Du Quoin, Illinois. The 7,700-square-foot… [Read More]
Illinois
Community FacilitiesGrantsHealth Care
Lab Technician at Exceptional Hospital Bullhead City Looks Into Microscope.

Putting the Exceptional in Exceptional Healthcare

Exceptional Community Hospital in Bullhead City first opened its doors in November 2023 Exceptional Healthcare is growing in service of rural Arizona. The community hospital provider has recently added facilities in Prescott Valley and… [Read More]
Arizona
First RespondersHealth Care
Staff member shows new facility

Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations at the Laona Rescue Unit in Northern Wisconsin

Emergency services in the rural Laona area are enhanced and streamlined through a Community Facilities project funded in part with a $2,093,000.00 grantAn inspirational sign* at the new Laona Rescue Unit facility reads: “Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations.” That is… [Read More]
Wisconsin
Health Care
Three men and three women pose in front of a CT machine at CA Dean hospital.

“The People” Make It Special: Grant Helps Maine’s Smallest Hospital Provide Emergency Services and Life-Saving Care to Rural Northern Communities

For more than a hundred years, a small hospital has operated in Greenville, Maine, making essential health services available in one of the most rural parts of the state—the region surrounding Moosehead Lake in Piscataquis County.Heavily forested Piscataquis County is Maine’s… [Read More]
Maine
Health Care
DeSoto Regional Health groundbreaking ceremony.

DeSoto Regional Health Breaks Grounds on $50 Million Expansion with $32 million USDA Loan, Enhancing Emergency and Urgent Care for Rural Louisiana

With a $32 million Community Facilities direct loan commitment from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, DeSoto Regional Health, a 70-year-old hospital in Mansfield, LA, broke ground on renovations and expansions to add a 16-bed medical/surgical unit, a 9-bed… [Read More]
Louisiana
Community FacilitiesHealth Care
Photo of nurse using a nuclear medicine camera

Better Local Healthcare for Florida’s Rural Panhandle with USDA

Just north of Interstate 10, and ninety minutes away from Pensacola to the west and Tallahassee to the east you’ll find Bonifay, Florida. This small community of 2,700 is the county seat for Holmes County, and like many other rural communities of its size, the people here are… [Read More]
Florida and Virgin Islands
Health Care
Hardeman County Community Health Center Ribbon Cutting

Hardeman County Community Health Center Ribbon Cutting

On Friday, August 2, 2024; Hardeman County Community Health Center opened the doors of their new Women and Children’s Clinic in Bolivar, Tennessee. The clinic hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for a brand-new facility more than 5,000 square feet. Hardeman County Community Health… [Read More]
Tennessee
Health Care

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