North Dakota Nurse Will Serve A Gov't. Community Clinic

President Barack Obama appointed a 54 year old North Dakota nurse and expert on rural health to accomplish the program of government's community clinics. It was Mary Wakefield, started as a nurse and became a health policy expert. Presently, she directs the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota. She will be guiding a small agency with an important public health mission, the Health Resources and Services Administration or HRSA.

It is an agency which supervises some 7,000 community clinics that serve people with low-income and with no insurance. It also deals with the government's program called Ryan White HIV/AIDS that offers medical care and medications for 530,000 low-income patients. The recently passed profitable incentive bill gives HRSA $2.5 billion for better improved health care facilities and training medical professionals.

According to Obama, under Wakefield’s leadership the government will be able to develop and progress the care granted in community health centers, which serve millions of uninsured Americans. This can also attend to severe shortages all over the country.

Community health centers facilitate rural communities. Residents are usually low-income people, often uninsured. Health centers can provide them necessary medical care which helps children and other patients with chronic conditions to stay healthy. Wakefield’s first priority is to allocate the economic recovery funds to renovate health centers and employ doctors and nurses. In the period of economic recession, these government programs are essential to reach communities across the country, Wakefield said.

Wakefield has served two North Dakota senators. She worked as a top staff aide of Democrat Kent Conrad, the budget committee chairman. According to Conrad she has the background and proficiency to perform well to implement nation's health care policy.

HRSA is a component of the Health and Human Services Department, which supervises by no one. Obama is expected to move quickly to nominate an HHS secretary. [via]