Media Contact: La Jaycee Brown, (202) 720-9741
ljbrown@rdmail.rural.usda.gov
Public Contact: Dan Campbell, (202) 720-6483
dan.campbell@usda.gov
Glickman Awards $13 Million for Rural Schools, Health Clinics, Marks 50th Anniversary of Telecommunications Program
Program Still Vital to Future of Rural America
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 1999 -- Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today observed the 50th anniversary of USDA’s rural telecommunications program by awarding nearly $13 million in grants for distance learning and telemedicine projects in rural areas of 34 states and Puerto Rico. The distance learning grants will provide students in rural schools the opportunity to take classes taught by instructors at other schools or colleges located miles away. The telemedicine grants will allow patients in rural clinics to be examined by medical specialists in distant locations, providing speedier diagnosis.
"Fifty years ago today, USDA helped bring rural America into the 20th century with telephone service, and is now ensuring that these communities continue to thrive in the 21st century with access to the information superhighway," Glickman said. "A new telecommunications revolution is now changing the way the world lives and does business, and USDA is making sure this vital technology is available in rural areas. The grants we are awarding today help ensure that rural residents will not have to settle for inferior education and medical services."
To bring this point home, Glickman interacted on a live video link with the rural Towanda Area School District in northeastern Pennsylvania, where a distance learning program was launched in 1994 with the help of a USDA grant. The project initially involved six rural schools, but has grown to include 300 schools in seven states, as well as 20 museums and 16 colleges and universities. In 1998 99, more than 25,000 students and 5,000 teachers benefitted from expanded learning opportunities thanks to this program.
Glickman also interacted via a live video link with a rural health clinic in Haxtum, Colo., a small farming community 120 miles from the nearest major hospital in Denver. Dr. Greg Holst and two of his patients discussed how they benefit from telemedicine. The clinic in Haxtum is part of the High Plains Rural Health Network, which includes 23 health care facilities in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming.
"Life-enhancing and life-saving telemedicine technology allows patients in rural clinics to be examined by medical specialists in distant locations, providing speedier diagnosis," said Jill Long Thompson, USDA under secretary for rural development. "Telemedicine also helps compensate for a shortage of doctors in many rural areas and provides educational and teleconferencing services for rural health professionals and administrative support service for clinics."
Working in partnership with rural telephone cooperatives and companies, USDA helped boost the number of rural Americans with telephone service from 38 percent in 1950 to more than 95 percent in 1999. USDA spends about $500 million per year on its rural telecommunications program. Since the program’s inception, $11 billion in loans and grants have been made, resulting in more than 1 million miles of phone lines and thousands of miles of fiber optic cable being built.
A list of the Distance Learning and Telemedicine projects receiving USDA funds can be accessed here.