Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

Film Description

Nowhere is health care a more serious concern than in rural America. Corporate mergers, hospital closures, the move to managed care, failure to recruit and retain health professionals, and the outmigration of patients to large urban centers are threatening already fragile health systems and economies in small communities. Yet this decline can be turned into an economic and health care success when local providers and community residents work together to create health services that the community wants and supports. Healthy, Wealthy & Wise: Improving Rural Health Care & Rural Economies demonstrates to business and civic leaders, public officials, health care providers and consumers just how vital local health care is to rural economic development. Each year, the average rural county generates $73 million from health care. Unfortunately, over 50 percent of those health care dollars go right out of town to the big city. This documentary shows how to keep more of those dollars at home and improve local health care in the process.

Screenings & Festivals

• UNC Chapel Hill
• Berea College