If you want to watch a rural community die, kill its hospital

Hello from Must Reads No Images? Click here     As part of the HuffPost bus tour, reporter Lauren Weber partnered with Andy Miller from Georgia Health News to profile three rural hospitals in Georgia: one that had closed, one that was struggling, and one that was opening a new facility. They wanted to answer the question: What happens to a community when a major healthcare provider and local employer shuts down?   What was the seed for this story? I'd been wanting to do a story on rural hospitals for a long time, ever since I found a shocking dataset from UNC highlighting how 82 of them had closed since 2010. While rural hospitals have been written about, I felt we could bring an in-depth analysis that I hadn't seen. And then with the bus tour, Andy Miller, who is a fantastic reporting partner, pitched a story about how to make that happen in Georgia. Then we were off to the races. What about the reporting was most challenging? Well, to be frank -- the depressing nature of a town that has died. These people all told the same story -- times had changed, business had died, and the hospital closing was the last straw. They welcomed us in to tell their stories -- it's just not a story you like to see. And to hear the local EMS director tell us 4 to 5 people could have survived if that hospital was kept open? That's tough. What surprised you? Seven hundred more rural hospitals are at risk of closing in the next 10 years. That's 700 rural communities that could go the way of Wheeler County. The hospital closure epidemic has only just begun. I also was shocked by how concentrated the health disparities and hospital closures were in the South -- and it's only predicted to get worse. Anything else you'd like to share with readers?  A lot of times you see the phrase "rural hospital closure" and people's eyes glaze over. It's about so much more than the technical health care terminology -- it's these communities' livelihoods. Next time you see the phrase, I hope you think of the people of Wheeler County, and what that closure has meant to them. READ THE STORY Love, Nick and Sam PS: Follow HuffPost's bus tour across America to find out how much you really know about the state of the nation. Sign up for our bus tour email     The internet's best stories, and interviews with the people who tell them. Did you like reading this email? Forward it to a friend. Or sign up! Can't get enough? Check out our Morning Email.   ©2017 HuffPost | 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates from HuffPost. Feedback | Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe   - - Preferences  |  Unsubscribe