The University of Georgia School of Law will host the fourth annual Rural Health Care Symposium, which will focus on resilience in rural health care—how Georgia’s rural health organizations prepare for risk, disruption, continuity, sustained service and success.
To be held Nov. 14 in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall on UGA’s North Campus, the purpose of the symposium is to bring together various stakeholders—academic researchers, legislators, medical providers and community advocates—and have discussions focused on generating potential solutions to the current rural health care crisis, according to School of Law associate professor Fazal Khan.
Stacey Abrams, former Georgia gubernatorial nominee and former Georgia House Democratic leader, will provide the event’s keynote address. As candidate for Georgia governor, Abrams committed to a plan to increase health care access in rural Georgia. She announced plans to promote telehealth to connect rural Georgians with specialists outside their community, support health professionals via service cancelable loans and special scholarship programs and increase apprenticeships throughout rural Georgia so health professionals can gain skills and serve their communities.
“I’m honored to participate in this year’s Rural Health Care Symposium to discuss how to solve the health care crisis impacting Georgia’s rural communities,” Abrams said. “We must work to ensure that Georgia’s rural hospitals have the resources necessary to operate with resilience over the long term so Georgians can get access to the care they need.”
Other conference speakers will include influential health care and policy leaders such as Dean Burke, M.D., Georgia state senator, and Priya Bathija, vice president of The Value Initiative at the American Hospital Association.
The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested at https://www.law.uga.edu/rural-healthcare. There will be an opening reception the day before the conference on Nov. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the School of Law.
