Rural Healthcare Infrastructure Challenges

Aging infrastructure is a problem for many rural healthcare providers. John Monson with farm credit cooperative Compeer Financial says facilities are lacking across the country:

“We have two people in a room, we’ve run into this and the number of cases where, you know, you have a sheet down the middle, that’s the privacy that they have, or they can’t fit into a bathroom. And so the idea here is to update those facilities and help them have better living circumstances so that they can live up their lives where they should.”

Monson says many of his farmer clients end up in assisted living:

“Our grandparents, our parents, aunts, uncles, and so on. We want to make sure they have a great place to live, and world-class facilities (because) they deserve that.”

Monson says another challenge is the cost to keep rural healthcare staff:

“My own father-in-law is experiencing a $900 increase per month at age 93 (in southeast MN) to stay in an assisted living facility, and this is happening everywhere to keep the workforce in place.”

Monson says Compeer is partnering with local banks to help finance assisted living facilities, clinics, and hospitals in rural areas.