Rural Academic Health Department

It is a mission of public health practice across the nation to prioritize evidence-based interventions and programs evaluations as part of the work we do, yet the capacity to do this consistently in rural areas is limited. Our two-county rural health district in north-central North Carolina addresses this with a unique long-standing partnership among colleges and universities and the local health department (LHD). The Rural Academic Health Department (AHD) Model at Granville Vance Public Health is a new, collaborative, and mutually beneficial partnership. It creates capacity for researchers' interests in presenting rural public health practice-based evidence. It also connects rural public health practitioners to real-time expertise in grant writing and management, evaluations, epidemiology, and health equity research. This is the magic: it's simultaneously beneficial to the community, the LHD, and the researchers.

Elevating the practice of public health in a rural area means telling our story about the work we accomplish in and with the community around us. We've been able to accomplish this while adding capacity to our stretched community. We know it works. For example, in the COVID-19 pandemic, we built a student volunteer data dashboard for COVID-19 with Duke University. Whether we are continuing the trajectory of chronic disease prevention and health promotion work, starting a new prevention effort, evaluating a current service model, or facing a pandemic, the Rural AHD Model has been both an incredibly beneficial journey and a positive synergy. There is more to accomplish yet!