The Tennessee Healthcare Campaign Is Looking For People To Tell Their Story

The Tennessee Healthcare Campaign wants you to tell your story.

Storybook coordinator Lacey Lyons said the campaign which advocates for the health care of all Tennesseeans is looking for people in rural areas to share stories about their struggles and difficulty accessing health care.

“What we want to do is we want to lift up the stories of Tennesseeans who struggle with access to care,” Lyons said. “And spotlight some of those rural communities who are experiencing issues, and create opportunities for dialogue with Tennessee lawmakers.”

Lyons said stories can be about anything from emergencies to day-to-day healthcare issues. She said it is important to have first-hand accounts of people in small communities who are living with these issues daily.

“You don’t necessarily have to have a critical care story, although those are very important and we are looking for those, we don’t want to discourage folks who might just have a story about needing basic care,” Lyons said. Because if you don’t get basic care sometimes that can lead to other things. So we want to make sure we have the entire conversation.”

Lyon’s said while the campaign advocates for health care in communities of all sizes, it is important to highlight rural areas because they can often be overlooked. She said it is important to get the word out about rural healthcare issues before it is too late and someone needs critical help that they do not have the resources for.

“Geographically, you’re a little bit isolated from some folks you can talk to and say hey this a problem, who are big players in the field,” Lyons said. “And so I think it’s important for us to reach out to you because we all have to work together on this.”

More information about the Tennessee Health Care Campaign and its rural health improvement projects can be found at tnhealthcarecampaign.org