Current Initiatives

Background: 

In the spring of 2025, the Center for Rural and Migrant Health put out a request for proposals for mini research pilot grants that addressed health issues impacting rural and migrant/immigrant populations. We were specifically interested in supporting research which aligns with the Rural Public Health Strategic Plan outlined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Below you will find the two proposals that were accepted with a funding period of August 2025-July 2027.

Addressing Untreated Hearing Loss in Rural and Migrant Populations by Increasing
Accessibility to Quality Audiological Care

Research team: Michael Heinz, PhD, Joshua Alexander, PhD, Jennifer Coddington, DNP, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC, and Alexandra Hustedt-Mai, AuD, CCC-A

The specific aims for this researh are:

1. To establish an evidence
   based hearing health education program for rural health providers.
2. To establish a follow-up model for comprehensive hearing evaluations in rural communities. This work aligns with the CDC’s Rural Public Health Strategic Plan’s first key priority by expanding rural outreach and engagement, as well as disseminating “clear, consistent, and timely scientific, educational, and communication resources tailored to rural public health needs.”

Equity in Online Food Access: Challenges and Opportunities for Rural Low-Income
Populations

Rearch team: Bhagyashree Katare, PhD and Tatiana Ringenberg, PhD
Community Partners: Purdue Nutrition Education Programs (NEP) Blake Connolly and Wanda Stevens
Collaborator: Krystal Hodge, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science

The specific aims for this research are:

1. To conduct a needs assessment for the barriers and facilitators of online grocery shopping in SNAP-eligible participants.
2. To assess the food environment in Indiana rural communities, such as options and types of
   food stores, availability of online grocery ordering and delivery, food cost, variety, and quality.
3. To develop educational material that not only provides knowledge and availability of online
   grocery shopping options, but also promotes safe and confident use of these platforms by
   addressing concerns around online fraud, and deceptive web design to SNAP-eligible and low- income populations in rural communities.
   

 

The Community health workers (CHWs) is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). CHWs are intended to build individual and community capacity by increasing self- sufficiency and health knowledge through activities such as outreach, community education, informal counseling, social support, and advocacy. CHWs improve clinical outcomes for chronic and other health conditions that disproportionately impact Black, Hispanic, and rural populations in Indiana. Purdue University, through its Community Health Worker Development Institute (CHWDI), and in partnership with key stakeholders. The goals of the CHW grant are:

• Expand the public health workforce by training new and existing CHWs and
  health support workers with specialized training and financial support to offset
  expenses that would impede success in training. The Program’s goal is to
  provide training so that 75% of participants become newly credentialed CHWs
  and health support workers.
• Extend and upskill the public health workforce by developing new or enhancing
  existing curriculums to increase the skills and competencies of existing CHWs
  and health support workers.
• Increase CHW and health support worker employment readiness through field
  placements and apprenticeships developed in collaboration with a network of
  partnerships that will enable trainees to respond to and support essential public
  health services and provide them with employment opportunities.
• Advance health equity and support for underserved communities by increasing
  the number of CHWs and health support workers that are employed as integral
  members of integrated care teams that use their expanded skills to reduce health
  disparities.

The continuum of care (e.g., prevention, screening, and linkage to care) for HIV and sexually
transmitted infections (STIs) are unreliable in rural areas of the United States (U.S.). Geographic
isolation and poverty may increase need for basic human services and further confound screening
and care. Since engagements with the care continuum are positively correlated with prognosis and negatively correlated with disease transmission, there remains a critical public health need to address vulnerable populations in rural, underserved areas through the development of the care continuum.

Those living in rural areas of the U.S. are less likely to engage in routine HIV and STI testing, identify
HIV and STI testing resources, or receive comprehensive HIV and STI education. Current projects
include:

• e-HERO: Funded by NIH (NIMHD 3U54MD012388-05S2) and with partnership with Northern
  Arizona University and Oklahoma State University, the goal of e-HERO is to increase HIV and
  syphilis testing and linkage to care, increase condom use, and promote PrEP uptake among
  sexual minority men (SMM) and American Indian (AI) men in rural Oklahoma, a state that is
  an Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) priority state.
• 3T-Prevent: Funded by NIH (R34 MH129208) and in partnership with the Medical College of
  Wisconsin and Oklahoma State University, the goal of 3T-Prevent is to develop and pilot 3T-
  Prevent (i.e., telementoring, treatment, testing, and prevention) in three HIV/STI testing clinics
  in Oklahoma. Intervention activities include detailing clinics and providers to support
  distribution of HIV and syphilis self-testing kits with patient-delivered partner therapy (PDPT)
  to sexual minority men; training and telementoring providers to deliver theoretically guided
  counseling sessions to support self-testing, PDPT, and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
  use among patients and partners; and optimizing PrEP prescribing/referrals and linkage to
  HIV care.