Libraries Help Improve Access To Health Care In Rural Communities
Rural libraries are offering special rooms for people to connect with health care providers online.
The OSU Department of Agricultural Economics helped get the project going.
Special rooms or booths in the Atoka, Broken Bow, Hinton and Okemah libraries have been for telehealth.
People can use them for mental health appointments, prescription refill consultations and quick wellness checks.
OSU Extension experts helped get grant money for spaces and teach library officials to use the telehealth systems.
Healthcare accessibility continues to be a problem in rural spaces because people face barriers such as traveling longer distances to receive care and provider shortages.
They might also not have reliable internet, which they can access at a library.
Extension officials say the spaces increase healthcare accessibility, offering a more convenient location.
Tulsa Public Schools Offers Free Meals To All Students
All Tulsa Public Schools’ students will have an opportunity to get breakfast and lunch for free throughout the school year.
District leaders hope to improve student outcomes through meals.
The school district will be reimbursed by a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to feed students for free.
TPS Superintendent Dr. Ebony Johnson said making all students, Pre-K through 12th grade, eligible for free meals can help alleviate chronic absenteeism, among other benefits.
“When a student’s nutritional needs are met, the child is more attentive in class, again, has better attendance, and has few disciplinary problems,” Johnson said.
Many TPS students were already eligible for free meals, but Board President Stacey Woolley said those students would often be too embarrassed to say they need assistance.
“We have kids who will just skip lunch rather than being the kid who doesn’t have the money to pay for it,” Woolley said.
The new initiative expands TPS’ free meals past elementary school, which had already received them for the past several years.
Noble Public Schools in Cleveland County is also offering free meals to all students this year.
Tribal Leaders Asking Federal Regulators To Pause Proposed Hydropower Plant
Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation leaders are asking federal regulators to hold off on a proposed hydropower plant in Southeast Oklahoma.
The plant would sit on the Kiamichi River in the Choctaw Nation’s reservation.
The project had a false start earlier this year when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected its letter of intent.
Now, the Commission has asked tribal leaders for preliminary comment on the license application for the project. Choctaw and Chickasaw leaders wrote back.
Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton writes the proposal is at odds with a Water Settlement Agreement between the Choctaw Nation and the state.
The agreement, which went into full effect this spring after years of negotiation, establishes management practices for the waters of the Kiamichi Basin and addresses environmental concerns.
The Chickasaw Nation also has treaty rights to waters in the Kiamichi River system and is part of that settlement agreement.
Governor Bill Anoatubby writes that the hydropower project hasn’t made enough effort to inform residents about the impacts of the plant.
New Exhibit At Oklahoma Route 66 Museum
The Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton is opening a new exhibit Saturday while honoring two Oklahomans.
The new exhibit is called “Discovering 66.”
Two Oklahomans who have contributed to preserving the history of the historic Route 66 will be inducted into the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame.
The Museum will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
The induction ceremony begins at 2 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
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