If the COVID pandemic taught us nothing else it’s that technology is the way forward when it comes to bridging the gap between quality healthcare in Illinois cities and rural communities.
That was the refrain during a webinar Thursday, moderated by Illinois Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton.
And it’s not just about access to tele-health. Data sharing, too, on a micro-level, paints a fuller picture of where the needs are and how the state might play a more effective role in delivering resources.
“From a policy standpoint,” Stratton said, “there’s often been this bifurcation on what are urban issues and what are rural issues, and actually, when you look at that, I constantly hear form people how these are the same issues.” Stratton grew up on Chicago’s south side and chairs the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council.
Linda Baker, a professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU Carbondale and Dr. Wayne Giles, Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, were among those on the panel.