In recognition of the shifting environment for rural hospitals and the impact that shift will have on the well-being of rural Kansas communities, the project aims to create a community conversation in a select number of rural Kansas communities.  The goal of the conversations is to gauge the level of understanding and awareness that community members have about the challenges facing rural hospitals, to provide education about those challenges, and to ascertain how receptive the community is to exploring alternative healthcare delivery models.  Community members may need to accept changes for their hospital to survive, so it is important that they understand the threats, but the discussions must be handled with delicacy and tact so as not to create undue concern about the immediate future.

The goal of our project approach is to create a non-threatening, educational, engaging forum for community conversations around their health services, needs, and gaps that have traditionally been filled by hospitals.  The primary engagement approach will be through two meetings: one with invited stakeholders and the other an open meeting for the community.