Informing our rural communities about the Affordable Care Act

Working in collaboration with the Central Appalachian Regional Network, (CARN), and the National Alliance for Rural Policy, (NARP), the Southwest Rural Policy Network, (SWRPN)--to which the Center for Rural Health is a member--, received funding from the W. K Kellogg Foundation through the Rural Supporting Organization to produce radio Public Service Announcements, (PSA’s). The scripts for the PSA’s, 13 produced in English and 12 produced in Spanish,  were taken from the SWRPN’s “Know Your Healthcare Rights” and describe certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act in simple terms.

The PSAs were recorded in English, and mixed at WMMT 88.7 FM (wmmt.org), the community radio station of Appalshop, Inc. in Whitesburg, KY, a member of CARN. The Spanish versions were translated and recorded by the SWRPN in Taos, NM.

Under this grant a website providing additional information on the Affordable Care Act and serving as the point where the electronic version of the PSA’s could be downloaded or a CD requested was also created: www.acaexplained.org.

In an effort to enlist the assistance of the other members of the Rural People, Rural Policy (RPRP) networks to help us distribute the PSA’s to radio stations in their communities, and as way to document the highlights of conducting this cross-RPRP project, a PechaKucha presentation entitled ‘A pooling of resources and talents to advance rural policy’was created and delivered at the Rural Policy Leadership Institute held in Dallas, TX in April of 2013.

For further information, please contact Joyce Hospodar at the Center for Rural Health at: (520) 626-2432 or hospodar@email.arizona.edu.