Nearly every industry in our community has felt the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The farming and agriculture industry in Illinois is certainly no exception. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the lockdowns and closures in response to COVID-19 are pushing many farm owners to their financial limits as commodity prices, food demands and biofuel demands drop. In an industry that has already faced years of challenging production and market conditions, these financial difficulties are cutting even deeper into farmers' already-thin margins. And for many farm

The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Center for Rural Health and Social Services Development (CRHSSD) partners with our rural and agricultural neighbors through the Farm Family Resource Initiative (FFRI).

This brief online module aims to remind medical students of what constitutes patient care, what patient life looks like, and how they pursue this profession. In this brief module, students will watch three short documentaries. All are from our students' documentary production projects known as "Patient Stories" at SIUSOM where they explored patient care deeply from a holistic perspective. The videos explore the ramifications of disease on all aspects of the patient's life--family, social, work. At the end of this module, we hope that the students who watched the stories will leave feeling a