Rural health forum slated here

How do rural communities meet their health care needs?
A community rural health forum is slated to help answer this question tomorrow from 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at La Place Rendez-Vous.
The forum is one in a series of six rural health forums planned across the province to address specific issues related to rural health.
Participants will discuss health as an asset to their community, and will learn about new tools and materials related to the recruitment and retention of health-care providers.
Each forum consists of two workshops. The first aims to raise awareness of health as an asset to viable, sustainable rural communities.
The purpose is to gain information from participants about their perceptions and ideas of health from a rural perspective.
The second workshop will introduce materials that have been developed to increase the interest of youth as well as practising health-care professionals in rural health careers.
Tools include a source book for rural recruitment and retention, and a CD-ROM of rural health careers that’s aimed at encouraging young people to pursue careers in rural health.
These, and other rural health resources, are available on the newly-created rural health Web site, www.ruralhealth.ca
Administrators, practitioners, retention and recruitment committees, students, and community members interested in rural health are welcome to attend.
These forums are part of a larger project entitled the “Rural Health Strategy: An integrated approach to healthy communities.”
This project is funded by Human Resources Development Canada, and the Ontario Rural Council’s Rural Health Working Group has taken the lead on this initiative.
While pre-registration for the forum was held last week, anyone interested can still attend.
More information about the rural health strategy and rural health forums also is available at www.ruralhealth.ca