SIU School of Medicine has 23 clinics and health service facilities in a 40,000 square mile expanse. It’s a distinctly rural area with more than 2.5 million people living in small urban areas, towns and farms. The SIU System Board of Trustees wants to develop a coordinated plan to unify the health services within this region and provide better rural health care to its residents. Its long-term goal is to position SIU as the nation’s leader in rural health care assessment, education and delivery. To aid the effort, a Rural Healthcare Work Group has been established to gather information and make