The Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health will host a webinar next month on rural transportation services.
The webinar is called Bridging the Distance: Transportation Challenges and Solutions in Rural Regions. Research Assistant Sage Milne says the webinar will look at a number of aspects.
"In rural communities, there is a need to understand problems of rural transportation better that are endemic to rural life. This can include distance from density, and distance from accessing healthcare services," Milne explained.
Milne says two of the guest speakers will be ONE CARE Executive Director Stephanie Ellens-Clark and Manager of Programs and Services Charlene Tolton. That organization is "a community based, charitable, not-for-profit health organization providing supportive care to families in Huron and Perth Counties and surrounding area," according to the ONE CARE website. Milne says those two speakers will share insights on the difference organizations like their's can make in rural areas.
"They'll be able to discuss ONE CARE as an organization, but also some of the programs and services that people may not be aware that they provide, and, what are the benefits of those services existing in the area," she said.
Not only will the webinar examine healthcare access that can improve with rural transportation options, but also economic impacts when people can get to jobs they maybe otherwise couldn't without rural transit. Milne says that discussion, as well as insights into the benefits of rural inter-county transit systems, will be led by Stephanie Stewart, Manager of Community Transit at County of Grey.
"Looking at researching the needs for rural transportation, but also creating a system to work as a regional transportation network. People have to travel far, so it's great that all these different transportation systems can talk to each other," Milne noted.
The webinar will also feature keynote speaker Dr. Sarah-Patricia Breen, BC Regional Innovation Chair in Rural Economic Development at Selkirk Innovates. The official release for the webinar from the Gateway Centre shares that "Dr. Breen’s goal is supporting rural communities across Canada to thrive under conditions of rapid economic and social change. Her more recent publications have focused on rural transportation funding and the need for public transit."
To attend this event and future Gateway Centre presentations, you can register on the Gateway CERH website here: https://www.gatewayruralhealth.ca/lectureseries.
