Wyo. partnership expands health care to rural areas

Attracting doctors and health-care professionals to parts of rural Wyoming has been a problem ever since frontier days, but a new public-private partnership is working hard to counter that problem.

The Wyoming Health Resources Network helps communities recruit and retain health-care professionals, and the key to its success is matching the right professional with the right community, said Nancy Caiola, its executive director, and Sharla Allen, its health planner.

Their task is hardly unique to Wyoming, of course. Rural areas throughout the nation often find it difficult to provide a viable economic base, facilities, and cultural amenities to attract and keep…