Sublette recognized as “Community Star” on National Rural Health Day
Sublette County Health Recognized as Wyoming’s “Community Star” on National Rural Health Day
Sublette County Health (SCH) earned Wyoming’s 2022 Community Star, the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) announced on Nov. 17, 2022.
On the third Thursday of November, NOSORH leads National Rural Health Day (NRHD), an annual celebration that honors those serving the vital health needs of nearly 61 million rural Americans. In conjunction with NRHD, NOSORH made a nationwide call for nominations, seeking individuals, organizations and coalitions making a positive impact in rural communities.
Sublette County is currently the only county in the state of Wyoming without a hospital. Voters in 2020 elected to form a hospital district that would work towards building the first critical access hospital in the county. The District was recently approved for a $32.2 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development program and the Sublette County Commissioners committed another $20 million to construct an attached long-term care facility. These efforts didn’t go unnoticed and NOSORH finds the 2022 Community Star award well deserved.
Sublette County Health public relations director, Kari DeWitt, comments on this year’s theme of Going the Extra Mile:
“Practicing rural healthcare requires a very small team of dedicated individuals to put in an incredible amount of effort. We don’t have a ‘deep bench’ because we are such a small community. The heavy work of planning and developing the hospital falls on the same individuals who are also managing the current clinic and focused on the best patient care. It’s beyond going the extra mile, it’s an extra 1,000 miles, but this team is committed to seeing it through.”
Sublette County Health will be featured in the 2022 edition of the Community Star eBook, which will be available on the official NRHD website, PowerofRural.org, on Nov. 17, 2022. The eBook will showcase the stories of Community Stars from 48 states, exemplifying this year’s NRHD theme of “Driving Change and Going the Extra Mile.”