A PechaKucha style presentation by Beth O'Connor, Executive Direction, Virginia Rural Health Resource Center and the Virginia Rural Health Association

1. YOU might be RURAL if….
“neighbors”
means actions
not proximity

2. YOU might be RURAL if….
your 4th grade teacher,
your church deacon,
your uncle, your neighbor
and the guy in exam room #2
are the same person

3. YOU might be RURAL if….
you travel more than 30 minutes for:
• medical care
• groceries
• clothes

4. YOU might be RURAL if….
$25,000 is a
high salary

5. YOU might be RURAL if….
you have a love/hate
relationship with tourism

6. YOU might be RURAL if….
in any given week you eat:
fast food
homegrown vegetables
an item special ordered on the Net
something someone at the table killed

7. YOU might be RURAL if….
you know to NEVER talk
poorly of anyone
because they're probably
related to the person you're
telling

8. YOU might be RURAL if….
Federal grant writing
season produces a flurry
of old friends calling your
office to “reconnect”

9. YOU might be RURAL if….
you live in, or within
sight of, the home
where one of your
parents was born

10. YOU might be RURAL if….
your last name is
more important
than your degree

11. YOU might be RURAL if….
even though you hated
yourself afterward,
you helped organize a
poverty tour in hopes of
securing funding

12. YOU might be RURAL if….
your child doesn’t have
a friend with a
different skin color

13. YOU might be RURAL if….
school board meetings
are considered excellent
entertainment

14. YOU might be RURAL if….
the fastest Internet
connection you can access
continually times out
the server

15. YOU might be RURAL if….
despite having excellent
firefighters, what starts
to burn will finish
before help arrives

16. YOU might be RURAL if….
this photo makes you sigh

17. YOU might be RURAL if….
when receiving directions
you understand where
the Miller's old barn
used to be

18. YOU might be RURAL if….
Sarbanes-Oxley
what?

19. YOU might be RURAL if….
your mother ever chased
a bear away from the garbage
with a rock, but won’t visit
DC with you because
she’s afraid of muggers

20. You might be rural if….
you know
what you’re
fighting for

22. Reflection and Discussion on…

23. At your table…
To begin, go around the table.
• Introduce yourself (name, where from)
• Briefly, share one thing that jumped out at you from the
presentations.
Next, have a general table discussion on
• Approaches that show promise for meaningfully engaging
rural residents in efforts to advance rural policy
• Approaches you have used to engage people in your work
Use the last 10 minutes to write your individual answers to
• What will you consider trying in your “back home”
environment?
• Who needs to know what you’ve learned today?
• How and when might that happen?