Wisconsin Office of Rural Health

Day #4 (Today): Today we actually got to sleep in-which was great because we stayed up way too late the night before. We went to Park Falls and filmed the whole town in record timing. We got to eat at a really cute cafe and I felt healthy with my first salad of the trip. Since Carla and I finished filming so quickly, w...e got to shop around town. We both made some great purchases!

Then we went to the Park Falls Dental Center where we interviewed Dr. Jeff Luke about his experiences in the new dental care facility through Marshfield Clinic. The clinic is very neat because they are able to take patients who have Medicaid or Badgercare. Most dental offices are not able to take these patients due to cost issues with reimbursement. We learned that the reason the Park Falls Dental Center is able to take these patients is because they come in mass quantities and the demand is really high in this area of the state.

Look for the pictures to come up later this week and our final video.Read More

Day #3 (Yesterday): A long drive. Thats what Carla and I did for most of the day. When we finally got to Park Falls we were pretty well tired out. But the show must go on and we began diligently filming. Soon we found ourselves at the Chamber of Commerce, where we met some very nice people. Phil Bochler, a local EMT ga...ve us a lot of insight about the distances that people in the area travel to receive healthcare. The girls that worked in the office, Wilma Thier, Stephanie McRoberts, and Sue Holm, also interviewed for us. They all did a great job and we spent quite a bit of time learning about the community and chatting with everyone. It was probably the most fun we have had just hamming it up with the local citizens.Read More

Day #2: Another fun filled day of interviewing! We chatted with Oconto Falls's Community Memorial Hospital's CEO and Administrator today. We also interviewed a WARM, Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine, student and Oconto Falls's Assistant Superintendant of Schools. All of the interviews went well, we steered clear of... the rain, starved a little for the love of the project, and ate some delicious apple crisp. Overall, I would say it was a good, productive day. Tomorrow we will be traveling on to another (and our final) location. I really hope that they get rain up here soon because the grass is looking a little like sandpaper. Pretty brown and crunchy with a ton of ant hills.

I had a great time so far and can't wait to go to our next location. And we will make sure to drive carefully so that Bessie the car doesn't hit a deer or two :)Read More

Part 3: Day 1...Today Carla and I took the long drive up to Oconto Falls (which is north of Green Bay). We didn't have any scheduled interviews, so we wandered around town and interviewed a few shop owners. We decided to put all of the pictures for Oconto Falls up at one time, so be sure to check it out tomorrow night.... Tomorrow will bring a few more interviews and the end of our filming in Oconto Falls.

Unfortunately we found out that there are no real falls anymore. They were replaced by dams many years ago. And everyone looked at us funny when we asked where the falls were. I guess they didn't even know they had any.Read More