This week on Rural Health Leadership Radio, we’re talking about empowering rural communities to address impactful health disparities. We are having that conversation with Dr. Fran Feltner, Director of the University Of Kentucky Center Of Excellence in Rural Health.

“Within these beautiful mountains there’s a lot of poverty and people who need our help and need improved access to care.”

~ Dr. Fran Feltner

Dr. Feltner was born and raised in rural Kentucky, having served rural health care in numerous different ways. She has held positions ranging from office nurse, to delivering babies, to caring for elderly patients, and has enjoyed every moment of being a nurse in rural health care. Dr. Feltner became the Clinical Director of the HRSA program, which would eventually lead to her role as the Director of Lay Health Worker Division, at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Feltner would later become the Director of the Kentucky Homeplace Program, with the main goal of increasing access to care and reducing health disparities in rural Kentucky.

“Take care of yourself first so that you can take care of other people.”

~ Dr. Fran Feltner

Dr. Feltner would then become the CEO or Director of the Center of Excellence in Rural Health. The main goal for Dr. Feltner and her team is to work across rural Kentucky with assisting people in their communities to solve problems. Dr. Feltner researches links between vulnerable communities and their health care system, social determinants of health and their effects on health outcomes, as well as the role and impact of community health workers. She thoroughly enjoys both the research and community engagement that comes with her work, and how she and her team really become a part of the community that they serve.