Grant funding supports collaboration to improve transportation access

Alisa Druzba works in rural health, but over the past few years she noticed another issue permeating her work.

“Transportation comes up in every conversation,” said Druzba, director of the New Hampshire Office of Rural Health & Primary Care, part of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

There’s the obvious issue of patients without transportation being able to get to appointments, but Druzba noticed that the state’s lack of public transit came up in hiring as well, whether the discussion focused on doctors or less-skilled workers like nursing assistants. She also knew that transportation, or lack thereof, impacted people’s access to healthy foods, community resources and other social determinants of health.