Challenges of rural health care

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Neal Kelley, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Seton Edgar B. Davis Hospital in Luling, was on the set Saturday morning to talk about the challenges of rural health care, including recruiting doctors.

Providing quality health care in Central Texas is a challenge at all levels, from doctors’ offices to hospital emergency rooms. Challenges can be greater in rural communities, where there are fewer doctors and patients are spread around a broad area – often miles of country roads away from immediate medical care.

That often means the local hospital shoulders a lot of responsibility in a rural place such as Caldwell County, where Seton Edgar B. Davis Hospital in Luling is the only hospital. Despite the challenges, Seton Edgar B. Davis is ranked among the Top 20 Rural Hospitals in the U.S. by the National Rural Health Association according to its “Quality Index.”