Rural Health Services Research Network of BC

The Rural Health Services Research Network of BC (RHSRNbc) is creating a supportive infrastructure to facilitate the investigation of issues relevant to rural health services from the perspective of the population, health services, and clinicians. Its mission is to achieve and support excellence in rural health services by, for, and with Indigenous and non-Indigenous rural communities, providers, and researchers. The goal of the Network is to increase communication, collaboration, and capacity for better research and health outcomes for rural communities. The Network is housed within UBC’s Faculty of Medicine (Department of Family Practice) and funded through the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc).

A live graphic recording from the ‘Youth Leaders in Action: Responding to Climate Change’ symposium.

Achievements

Hosted a Two-Day Symposium

In May 2024, RHSRNbc hosted a virtual two-day symposium titled ‘Youth Leaders in Action: Responding to Climate Change‘.

The event provided an opportunity to invite many engaging speakers to the symposium who brought varied perspectives on how they personally experience and cope with eco-anxiety and/or solastalgia, as well as harness the energy to move good work forward in their respective roles. The final report from the symposium can be found here.

The event was well attended, with a wide range of participants including medical students, high school teachers, high school students, undergraduate students, and rural physicians.

One of the main outcomes of this symposium has been a re-affirmation of the importance of including climate change in health-related conversations, particularly among rural communities. Many of the conversations and ideas that came out of the symposium have shaped and fuelled the ongoing work within the CCEDARR project at RHSRNbc. Most notably, the team are working on submitting a pilot project proposal that will help rural physicians bring social prescribing in to enhance the resilience of their communities, as well as expanding vol.2 of the online learning hub which will take shape in a website format.

Develop Community Profiles for Rural Hospitals

Throughout the past year, the RHSRNbc team has continued to work on further expanding and refining the community profiles of the Data Amplification project. The Data Amplification project aims to present rural health data in a framework that best supports rural health services and quality improvement. Specifically, this work centers around a catchment approach, which calculates the number of individuals who live within a defined drive-time from a health service facility.

Presently, the team has developed community profiles for all identified rural hospitals across the province and are working on expanding this work to include health centres. This project has also led to a parallel initiative working in collaboration with the RCCbc Data Informatics Group to compile a comprehensive list of all rural health service facilities in the province. The aim of this project is to provide a firm foundation to support better quality improvement and research in rural communities.

Cedar Grove Video Production

One of the biggest achievements of 2024 was the development and publication of a short film titled ‘Cedar Grove.’ The primary objective in creating this film was to reach and engage with youth (and a broader audience in general) on the topic of climate action. As was evident following the 2024 symposium, many people from any age and background can feel some degree of anxiety with regard to climate change and its impacts on our lives today. The goal with the film was to help audiences feel that they are not alone in their experiences, and to challenge and/or encourage them to act in their own communities.

The team worked with an undergraduate film student from UBC as the creative lead for this project. After publication, the film was shared with partners and received several positive reviews and feedback.

Watch the film here.

In addition to the short film, in 2024 the team began to lay the groundwork for the second volume of the online CCEDARR Learning Hub. This second volume will be an online platform, and will primarily be focused on implementation and sharing success stories from rural communities that are actively working to enhance their resilience.

New Research Publications

During 2024, four new research studies were published:

Barbour, L., Venkataraman, M., Bland, A., de Waal, A., Fischer, J., Hari, K., & Grzybowski, S. (2024). Payment model impact on the resilience of rural communities. Canadian Family Physician, 70(11-12).
Rezapour, A., Turner, H., Newbery, S., Grzybowski, S., & Mackey, P. (2024). Supporting future and current rural physicians. CMAJ, 196(39).
Bland, A., Meyer, A., Orrantia, E., Hale, I., & Grzybowski, S. (2024). Rural physician-community engagement: Building, supporting and maintaining resilient health care strategies in three rural Canadian communities. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 32.
Bland, A., de Waal, A., & Grzybowski, S. (2024). Lessons learned from the COVID‑19 pandemic: The importance of physician leadership in responding to rural community ecosystem disruptions. Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine, 29(2).

Explore the numbers

4 Publications

In 2024, four new research studies we published, each relating to rural heath. to rural

$5,000+ In funding

During 2024, $5,345.08 was provided in funds for medical students involved in rural research to support projects or travel related to presenting rural research/ attending rural conferences.

2 Conferences

The RHSRNbc team attended two conferences in 2024 – SRPC 2024 in Edmonton, AB, and BC RHC in Whistler, BC.

5 Students

Five FLEX (Flexible Enhanced Learning) students were supported by RHSRNbc in 2024.

Making a Difference

While there were many successes from this past year, one of the most meaningful stories was when the RHSRNbc team had the opportunity to visit Claremont Secondary School in Victoria, BC. Claremont Secondary is home to the Institute for Global Solutions (IGS) program, which is a unique curriculum that allows high school students to receive their science and social studies education in an interdisciplinary way. RHSRNbc has a long-standing relationship with the two teachers who spearheaded this program. These two teachers are also planning to include Vol. 1 of the learning hub as the main curriculum textbook for one of their upcoming new grade 11 science courses.

For one day in December, the RHSRNbc team had the opportunity to attend an class in-person and to run a heat-dome scenario with students. It was an incredibly meaningful time to be able to witness in-person how a dynamic classroom setting fuels creative learning, and from that day we have had many more conversations on how the intersection of health and education is an important opportunity to spur more climate action and ultimately strengthen the health and wellbeing of communities.

Plans for the Future

In 2025, the RHSRNbc team will keep building Vol. 2 to include stories of rural resilience, and work with physicians to increase the resilience of their rural communities through social prescribing. In addition to the climate change work, the data amplification project will also continue in refining a comprehensive facilities list and expanding the application of the rural catchment approach.

Team Members

Click on a team member to explore which other projects they have contributed to in the past year.

Stefan Grzybowski

Director, Rural Health Services Research Network of BC

Esther Kim

Network Coordinator – Rural Health Services Research Network of BC

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