Rural Community Health: Keeping Michigan's Upper Peninsula Informed During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Elmer, Steven; Lytle, Lydia; Kamm, Kelly

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, public health departments and healthcare systems are working to navigate the crisis and protect the community. Those communities in rural areas, where health and communication infrastructure are often limited, face additional challenges in keeping individuals informed, safe, and healthy. Moreover, the amount of misleading information circulating is making it even more difficult to convey critical and rapidly evolving public health recommendations. Michigan Technological University is located in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula which accounts for 30% of the State's land mass but only 3% of the total population. Our goal was to increase campus and community awareness about COVID‐19 and its impact on health and society. For our rural community, we offered a 1) COVID‐19 public town hall series and 2) COVID‐19 university wide academic course. The public town hall series was delivered weekly and broadcasted live through a webinar (Zoom), social media, and local radio. Each week a speaker panel consisting of public health officials, clinicians, educators, and/or other local experts discussed a COVID‐19 topic theme and answered questions from the community. The academic course was presented as a 1‐credit seminar‐based online course open to any student. Each week students explored a COVID‐19 related topic, participated in the weekly town hall, and engaged in follow‐up discussion and reflection. Primary course learning objectives were for students to locate credible COVID‐19 information sources and describe what is known about the general health impacts of the disease. Twelve public town halls, that included more than 35 different presenters, were delivered. Number of attendees on the Zoom webinars ranged between 20‐75 individuals with many others interacting with content through social media, radio, and the recorded content. Town hall themes included the role of public health to protect community health, impact of disease on physical and mental health, health disparities, mechanisms to interrupt and halt transmission, and strategies for adapting to lifestyle changes. Undergraduate and graduate students (n=37) from a variety of majors (biology, exercise science, chemistry, engineering, business, forestry) enrolled in the course. Nearly all students (96%) reported that the course increased their awareness about COVID‐19 and the majority (61%) indicated that the course was the most effective way to obtain COVID‐19 related information. All students recommended that other students take this course in the future. The public town hall series provided a robust platform to deliver critical, real‐time health information to our campus and broader community during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Additionally, students perceived that the academic course increased their awareness of COVID‐19. Increased public health messaging is a critical step to keeping Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula informed, safe, and healthy during the COVID‐19 pandemic and may serve as a model for other rural university‐community partnerships.