Healthy Rural California

The Chico State Pre-Medical Association is off to a strong start! 🩺

The Association kicked off the term by tabling at the University's Clubtacular event, connecting with students who are interested in a future career in medicine and curious about the opportunities the association offers. The first meeting also had an incredible turnout, drawing 44 students!

Healthy Rural California is thrilled to support students exploring medical pathways, and to be a part of this exciting new community.

Here's to a great year ahead!

A huge thank-you to our Eclipse Sponsors: Partnership HealthPlan of California, Chico Eye Center, and Sweeney & Michel, LLC for supporting the Harvest Moon Black Tie Benefit!

It's because of sponsors like these that we're able to host our fall fundraiser, where we're not only raising funds to expand access to care and support medical pathways in our region, we're also bringing our community together to celebrate and share in our mission.

Thank you for investing in Healthy Rural California. We can't wait to celebrate with you on October 2 at the Chico Area Recreation & Park District Rose Garden!

Learn more and buy tickets: https://healthyruralca.org/benefit

We're hiring a Senior Accountant!

This is a full-time, hybrid role based out of our Chico office.

Learn more and apply here: https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=d3fc23ef61d458fd

Say hello to our new Public Health Interns, Soraya Carrillo Miramontes, Gina Gerety, and Emma Lohmann!

From naloxone distribution and overdose prevention to coalition-building and student outreach, the three of them will be on the front lines of community health. They'll be supporting harm reduction efforts, strengthening local prevention coalitions, engaging college students around wellness, and backing county-wide public health initiatives.

Welcome to the team!

We are so grateful to California State University, Chico for sponsoring our Harvest Moon Black Tie Benefit! As an Autumn Equinox-level sponsor, they are generously supporting HRC's mission to expand medical access, equity, and education pathways in the North State.

Through our partnership with Chico State, we are working to fuel the programs that build the next generation of Northern California physicians. This includes strengthening the university’s Pre-Medical Association through hands-on workshops, shadowing, and mentorship, and launching a new Pre-Health designation to identify and support students early on their path to medicine. Together, these efforts are laying the foundation for 3rd-year medical clerkship rotations right here in our community.

Thank you for investing in the future of rural healthcare!

Learn more and buy tickets to the 10/2 Harvest Moon Black Tie Benefit: https://healthyruralca.org/benefit

Over the summer, 33 interns in HRC's Healthcare Professions Pathway Program (HPPP) spent two months shadowing medical professionals in community health centers, college clinics, and public and behavioral health departments, gaining hands-on experience and deepening their understanding of health equity in rural communities.

As a requirement for graduation, the HPPP interns applied their new skills and experience to research projects on topics within the realm of rural healthcare and presented them at a final Poster Symposium. Swipe through the images below to read a few takeaways from this year's research!

Important note: The research projects have not been peer-reviewed, thoughts expressed by interview/survey participants are based on personal experience alone, and these insights are meant to shed a bit of light on a larger, nuanced set of challenges facing rural healthcare systems.

To see the full posters and learn more about HPPP, head to https://healthyruralca.org/community-health/healthcare-professions-pathways-program-hppp/

Did you know that working-age Americans living in rural areas are 43% more likely to die from natural causes than those living in cities, when 25 years ago those percentages were equal?

There are many factors contributing to this trend, but a major cause is the declining number of physicians practicing in rural areas, making it incredibly difficult for people to get care without driving many hours out of town. In the North State, this issue was compounded by the 2018 Camp Fire, which partially destroyed and led to the closing of Paradise’s only hospital. The region also lost 45 physicians, leaving tens of thousands of Californians in our region with no access to local care.

It’s also why HRC was born: to not only bring more doctors to our region through our medical residency programs, but also to cultivate opportunities for the next generation of medical professionals in our own community.

On a recent podcast episode called "Why Rural Healthcare Is Breaking: A Health Economist Explains," health economist Thomas Campanella explains a few of the challenges facing rural health care systems and what can be done to reshape the future.

🎧 Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db_niBEsTW4

Thank you so much to Enloe Health for signing on as a sponsor for our fall fundraiser, the Harvest Moon Black Tie Benefit! As an Autumn Equinox-level sponsor, Enloe Health is generously supporting HRC's mission to expand health care access and medical education in the North State.

Enloe Health is also a proud partner in HRC’s Family Medicine and Psychiatry Residency Programs, training doctors right here in Chico.

Research shows that residents are more likely to practice medicine in the communities where they train, resulting in better access to physician care as well as economic and community benefit. This is one of the ways that HRC's Residency Programs are an essential strategy for addressing physician shortages in rural Northern California. Through our partnership with Enloe, we will continue to work toward our shared goal of strengthening access to care and elevating the health of our communities.

To learn more about HRC’s programs and get tickets to the Harvest Moon Black Tie Benefit on October 2, head to https://healthyruralca.org.

Congratulations to the 37 interns who graduated from our summer 2026 Healthcare Professions Pathway Program! We're so proud of your passion and hard work. Thank you for shaping the future of healthcare!