Arkansas librarians get training to relieve health care access gap

Bentonville nonprofit Heartland Forward wants to make it easier for Arkansans to access telehealth services. So it's arming librarians with the tools they need to be even more of a resource to their communities.

Why it matters: Driving to a doctor's appointment is a hurdle for rural Arkansans whose doctors' offices are out of town, so going to health care appointments at their local libraries can help bridge the gap in access.

State of play: Heartland Forward kicked the effort off Wednesday at the Fayetteville Public Library with a training event attended by librarians in person and via Zoom.

• The organization with the help of a $25,000 donation from the James M. Cox Foundation, has developed an online module that librarians in Arkansas and Oklahoma can access for free and use to train their staff.
• The module is designed to enable librarians to answer telehealth-related questions patrons might ask them. It covers what kind of telehealth services are available, how to make appointments and technical aspects of telehealth like navigating patient portals, Mary Larkin Furlow, senior manager of the Connecting the Heartland initiative, said during the event Wednesday.

The big picture: The Connecting the Heartland Initiative is geared toward expanding internet access, starting with Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio and Tennessee.

• "We believe that having access to affordable high-speed internet is probably the No. 1 economic issue of our time, and as part of this initiative, we know that if you don't have access to the internet it could impact health care and your health care needs," Angie Cooper, executive vice president at Heartland Forward, told Axios.

The latest: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration recently approved the second volume of Arkansas' proposal for the Broadband Equity Access Deployment program.

• The state can request more than $1 billion in funding and begin implementation of the state's BEAD proposal. The proposal includes objectives like connecting all broadband-serviceable homes and businesses in Arkansas with access to reliable high-speed internet and providing fiber technology to as many unserved and underserved locations as possible.

What they're saying: People regularly come to the Pea Ridge Public Library because they do not have internet access at home, director Wendy Martin told Axios at Wednesday's training event. Some have their own computer, but can't afford Wi-Fi.

• Patrons haven't inquired about telehealth specifically, but Martin plans to show her staff the training and is open to being a place where people come to access telehealth appointments.

The James M. Cox Foundation provides philanthropic support in communities where Cox Enterprises does business. Cox Enterprises is the parent company of Axios.