{"id":92100,"date":"2025-08-18T15:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T15:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/92100\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T15:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T15:09:10","slug":"long-drives-longer-waits-and-fading-trust-mark-the-new-reality-of-rural-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/92100\/","title":{"rendered":"Long drives, longer waits and fading trust mark the new reality of rural health care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unyielding<\/a> is a University of Missouri School of Journalism project for Investigate Midwest.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been more than three years since the closure of Audrain Community Hospital, ending more than a century of continuous local care in Mexico, Missouri.<\/p>\n

Once a cornerstone of rural health in the region and the first community cancer center in the state, the hospital shuttered in March 2022<\/a> after a series of management failures under Noble Health and its successor, Platinum Health. For the thousands who relied on it, the closure didn\u2019t just change where they went for care, it changed the very rhythm of their lives.<\/p>\n

This same story has played out in rural counties throughout Missouri and the Midwest. Twenty-one hospitals have closed in Missouri in the past 10 years<\/a>, many in rural areas. Residents now must drive long distances for care, or make the decision that it\u2019s just not worth traveling until the pain is too great or the symptoms too strong to ignore.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

No one knows that better than Joseph Corrado.<\/p>\n

Corrado spent more than 40 years operating at Audrain. Now, he spends his time on the road, driving to Columbia three days a week, and to Jefferson City another two. His 2016 Cadillac Escalade, once a means of local commuting, has logged more than 6,000 miles this year alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I mean, as a surgeon, it\u2019s very, very difficult to not have a hospital,\u201d Corrado said. \u201cI can\u2019t, you know, do your operation in the garage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corrado used to roll out of bed and get to the operating room in three minutes, often finding he\u2019d beat the ambulance there.<\/p>\n

Before the closure, patients could see him in his Mexico office on Monday, and be on an operating table by Tuesday. Today, everything is more complicated and farther away.<\/p>\n

But what was lost wasn\u2019t just convenience, it was trust, built across generations. Corrado said most of his patients didn\u2019t want to go elsewhere for care. They preferred seeing someone they knew, someone local.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After more than four decades in Mexico, he had developed a bond not just with individuals, but with entire families, treating grandparents, parents and now their children. His medical charts, he noted, are \u201c42 years thick.\u201d<\/p>\n

That kind of relationship made health care personal, Corrado said. \u201cI can\u2019t go to Walmart without my patients coming up to me in aisle five and telling me, \u2018Oh doctor, look at my incision.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A five-minute appointment takes half a day\u2019<\/p>\n

Rural areas of the state have higher poverty rates and older demographics, and about one in four rural Missourians rely on Medicaid. With fewer patients using private insurance, it has become harder for rural hospitals to offset losses.<\/p>\n

The unemployment rate also has grown in many rural areas with hospital closures, as these cities lose a major contributor to the local economy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Elizabeth Berry, 72, and Randy Dickson, 63, not having a hospital means more than just not having a place to get the care you need. It adds another layer of difficulty when it comes to actually getting to the closest hospital, which, for most in the Mexico area, is about 40 miles away in Columbia.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou pretty much know, if you have an emergency, you are in serious trouble,\u201d Dickson said in an interview. \u201cIt\u2019s a bad situation. And when you do get down there, it\u2019s so crowded that you can\u2019t get in. You have people who are being treated in the waiting area.\u201d<\/p>\n

These struggles impact everyone in the area, but the impact is greatest on people who are older, can\u2019t drive or have health issues, and are on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way I can get there is in an ambulance, and I can\u2019t afford it,\u201d Dickson said. \u201cSo if I have an emergency, I just have to hope I don\u2019t die before I get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berry\u2019s husband died after years of battling kidney failure and heart issues. She is still struggling to pay off the debt that came with his medical bills, exacerbated by the lack of local care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had to be airlifted a number of times or had to take an ambulance because of his issues, and I am still dealing with the bills that are coming in for transportation,\u201d Berry said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patients sometimes live with injuries and illnesses for long stretches of time before seeking medical attention. Due to the high cost of emergency medical transportation, some people, when injured, wait for it to heal instead of immediately seeing a doctor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This has created a layer of caution for a lot of people in Mexico, knowing \u201cthey are only going to a hospital if it is \u2018life or death,\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Dickson said, adding \u201cif we had an emergency room with some good doctors, that would be so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angela and Steve Teeter travel weekly to Cape Girardeau for Steve to receive radiation and chemotherapy. He was diagnosed in early January with Stage 3B lung cancer, the disease having spread to his lymph nodes. On May 13, a spot was found on his brain, indicating the cancer had spread and leading to a Stage 4 diagnosis. The Teeters will need to drive an additional three and a half hours to St. Louis so he can receive radiation treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Angela walked through what a typical appointment looks like for Steve.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing chemo now, and he goes weekly for the treatments every Friday, and they\u2019re usually anywhere from, I would say, on a short day, probably five hours, and then on a long day, probably like seven hours,\u201d Angela said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we go in, we do a blood draw, then we wait, and then we see the doctor, and then we wait, and then we start the infusion. In a month and a half, we will (have traveled) back and forth about 30 times. It\u2019s three hours there and back. So, you know, a five-minute appointment takes half a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

With no nearby hospital, his initial diagnosis was delayed. \u201cThere was a lot of sickness going around, you know, flu and stuff like that. And so he went to the doctor, and they gave him antibiotics and a steroid, and then it kept on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe kept coughing. And so he went back to the doctor a month or so later, and they did the same thing,\u201d she said. But the coughing persisted, and she eventually brought him to urgent care to get an X-ray. \u201cAnd then they found the tumor,\u201d she said, \u201cand sent him to the emergency room.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the completion of Steve\u2019s weekly chemotherapy in June, the Teeters traveled an estimated distance of 13,400 miles.<\/p>\n

\u2018Padlocks on the doors\u2019<\/p>\n

In Audrain County, the hospital\u2019s decline began quietly in early 2020, after Noble Health acquired it. Under their tenure, and later that of Platinum Health, chaos seeped into every corner of the operation. Vendors weren\u2019t paid. Employee health insurance was dropped, without notice. Scores of lawsuits mounted<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never forget the day they put the padlocks on the doors and said we\u2019re closed,\u201d Corrado, the surgeon, said. \u201cWhat do you mean we\u2019re closed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, emergency care in Mexico often starts with a race against time. Patients are stabilized by the local ambulance district and rushed to the nearest available emergency room, typically in Columbia, 40 minutes away. There they can face hours-long wait times.<\/p>\n

A potential path forward has emerged. In October 2024, Mexico city officials signed a letter of intent with Boone Health<\/a>, entering exclusive talks to bring a critical access hospital back to town. The proposed three-year plan outlines a Medicare-certified facility with emergency services and outpatient care. But for now, it\u2019s just that \u2014 a plan.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, health care advocates warn the impact of a rural hospital closure goes far beyond emergency care. Heidi Lucas, executive director of the Missouri Rural Health Association, said the collapse of one service affects the entire system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn rural health \u2014 really in health care altogether \u2014 it\u2019s very much a continuum of care,\u201d Lucas said. \u201cIf you\u2019re not addressing one section of it, it affects other portions. And you kind of have to look at all of them to move the needle in health care access.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucas and others point to the fragile financial state of rural hospitals. COVID-era relief funds gave many a temporary cushion, but those funds have long since dried up. One rural CEO told her he was \u201cmaking about $0.36 for every dollar I spend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community Health Specialist Jennifer Eldridge of the University of Missouri extension program said the grant programs that once propped up rural health initiatives are vanishing, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sad about their future,\u201d she said. \u201cThey do depend on a lot of the grants \u2026 that I\u2019m guessing may not exist anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eldridge recently attended a public health conference where some scheduled presenters never arrived. \u201cThey\u2019d already lost their jobs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For farming communities especially, preventive care is becoming harder and harder to access.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t really get a day off unless it rains,\u201d Eldridge said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s hard to predict rain a month out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some residents, she added, simply don\u2019t want to go. \u201cI\u2019ve been sitting with my extension council and they\u2019ve told me they know people who would rather stay on their farm and die than drive to the city for health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Corrado, the distance is not just a commute,\u00a0 it\u2019s a constant reminder of what his town lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an excellent medical center,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got all kinds of accolades and recognition and that\u2019s all gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the community waits to see if Boone Health\u2019s proposal will materialize, Corrado keeps driving. The miles pile up. The surgeries continue. And the absence of a hospital in Mexico remains a wound that hasn\u2019t yet healed.<\/p>\n

Read the rest of the series<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unyielding<\/a> was produced by students at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. The team included researchers, reporters, data analysts, photographers and graphic designers. The students, most of whom were seniors who graduated in May 2025, included:<\/p>\n

Reporters: Mary McCue Bell, Alex Cox, Jonah Foster, Prajukta Ghosh, Adeleine Halsey, Ben Koelkebeck, Xander Lundblad, Lillian Metzmeier, Kyla Pehr, Seth Schwartzberg, Savvy Sleever and Mayci Wilderman.<\/p>\n

Data and graphics: Alex Cox, Yasha Mikolajczak and Mariia Novoselia<\/p>\n

Photography: Michael Baniewicz<\/p>\n

For questions about the project, please contact Mark Horvit, horvitm@missouri.edu.<\/p>\n

Like this:<\/p>\n

Like Loading…<\/p>\n

Citations & References:<\/p>\n

Interviews<\/p>\n

Joseph Corrado, Feb. 13, 2025<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Berr, March 13, 2025<\/p>\n

Randy Dicksopn, March 13, 2025<\/p>\n

Angela Teeter, April 14, 2025<\/p>\n

Heidi Lucas, Feb. 20, 2025<\/p>\n

Jennifer Eldridge, April 2025<\/p>\n

Data and reports<\/p>\n

\u201cCallaway and Audrian Community Hospitals Suspending Services as they Restructure<\/a>,\u201d 2022, Noble Health<\/p>\n

\u201cMissouri Health Care Availability and Outcomes Differ Regionally<\/a>,\u201d 2021, Extension University of Missouri<\/p>\n

\u201cMexico officials sign letter of intent with Boone Health for possible hospital<\/a>,\u201d 2024, Columbia Missourian<\/p>\n

\u201cUS Trauma and Disaster Response Centers<\/a>,\u201d Trauma Center Association of America<\/p>\n

\u201cMissouri Agriculture Outlook, 2025<\/a>,\u201d Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center <\/p>\n

Type of work: <\/p>\n

Investigative \/ Enterprise In-depth examination of a single subject requiring extensive research and resources.<\/p>\n

Republish This Story<\/p>\n

\"Creative<\/a><\/p>\n

Republish our articles for free, online or in print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unyielding is a University of Missouri School of Journalism project for Investigate Midwest. It\u2019s been more than three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[2342,687,3281,97,252,253,9447,6747,62748],"class_list":["post-92100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-agriculture","tag-cancer","tag-doctors","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-hospitals","tag-missouri","tag-rural-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}