Leaders meet at UMass Amherst for rural health summit

New at noon, the UMass Amherst School of Nursing hosted the Massachusetts Healthcare Summit this morning. 22 News reporter Nick Antonakis joins us live in studio now with how the topics discussed impact rural communities. Julia, there's one specific focus to take away from the summit. Take a look. The fourth annual Massachusetts Health Care Summit took over UMass's campus on Tuesday morning. Hosted by the UMass Amherst School of Nursing, health care leaders, government officials, and positions from higher education came together with one focus, rural health. Between our rural communities in Western Mass and our gateway cities, it's a really important topic in health care. We have to take the direction from the folks with lived experience. The folks on the front lines doing the work. UMass bringing everybody together in one room. Today is a gift for everyone who cares about the future of rural health in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Health care funding and solutions in rural and underserved communities is a pressing issue in western Massachusetts. And the point of the summit is to try and address that. The effect afterwards of the new partnerships that form and the strengthening of our health systems that come from Advocacy at the state level, as well as local community work that comes out of education and community health partnerships. Something Senator Joe Cummerford advocated for was the Rural Health Transformation Fund, which she believes should be supported through the $162 million in federal funding that the state received. This fund will roll out, again, with the Healey administration at the helm. And help resource and sustain the efforts and then also do new stuff that we've needed to do for a really long time. Now those events are continuing at UMass throughout this afternoon. Working for you, Nick Antonakis, 22 News.