Last year in June, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue chose Ann Hazlett to lead the Rural Development agencies at USDA. Hazlett recently visited Iowa to announce a $309 million USDA investment to improve rural electric infrastructure in 12 states.

“Robust, modern infrastructure is a foundation for quality of life and economic opportunity no matter the ZIP code in which you live,” Hazlett said. “Secretary Sonny Perdue’s leadership has helped strengthen USDA’s commitment as a strong partner in addressing rural infrastructure needs to support a more prosperous future in rural communities.”

Hazlett made the announcement during a visit to Central Iowa Power Cooperative in Cedar Rapids. Farmers Electric Cooperative based in Greenfield, and a CIPCO member, received a $1.4 million USDA loan to invest in smart-grid projects. The rural electric cooperative, which serves portions of Adair, Audubon, Cass, Guthrie, Madison and Union counties, plans to install more than 5,800 single-phase meters and additional meter reading equipment.

RELIABLE SERVICE: Anne Hazlett (right) and Chuck Soderberg, executive vice president, Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives, discuss how new USDA investments will impact rural Iowa.

Also, Harrison County REC in Woodbine received a $6 million loan to build 20 miles of electric line, improve 57 miles of line and make other system improvements. Its loan includes $578,000 for smart-grid projects in their western Iowa service area, including portions of Crawford, Harrison, Monona, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties.

USDA programs help provide financing
The loans are through USDA’s electric loan and loan guarantee program, which helps finance generation, transmission and distribution projects; system improvements; smart-grid technology; and energy conservation projects in communities with 10,000 or fewer residents.

100% ELECTRICITY: The all-electric car in this photo is a symbol of the wave of the future. More vehicles will be running on 100% electricity, says USDA’s Anne Hazlett.

Farmers Electric Cooperative and Harrison County REC join many other rural electric co-ops and utilities that partner with USDA to use smart grid for computer applications, two-way communications, geospatial information systems and other tools to increase the reliability and efficiency of electric power systems. “Whether we are talking about Iowa, or any other state, there are a significant number of infrastructure gaps that need attention,” Hazlett said at the funding announcement. “Often, if we can address those gaps, many of the other issues and challenges we are trying to help rural communities navigate become more manageable.”

While in Iowa, Hazlett also made two stops at the University of Iowa to learn how USDA investments are helping improve health care opportunities across rural Iowa. University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is using a USDA telemedicine grant to help establish telemedicine sites in more than 60 rural health care locations in 46 counties across the state.

One of the most recent facilities to connect to the service is Pleasantview Home, an independent living, skilled nursing and long-term care facility in Kalona, which is now offering geriatric telepsychiatry to expand access to mental health services.

Telemedicine works for all ages
“We’ve found telemedicine can be successful with all ages of patients, from pediatrics all the way through geriatrics,” says Eric Einwalter, senior digital health product manager, University of Iowa Health Ventures. “In fact, many times the geriatric population is even more engaged through telemedicine than the younger generations who have grown up using tablets and other video technologies.”

Telemedicine offers improved care for pediatric and elderly populations with frequent health care needs, but with constrained ability to travel to make their appointments far from home. It also provides patients and their families a convenient alternative to spending time away from work or school.

Hazlett’s day also included a partnership discussion at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics to address ways to bring new dentists to rural parts of Iowa and the nation.

USDA partner in dental program
Around 10 years ago, a partnership program called Fulfilling Iowa’s Need for Dentists was created to help alleviate the critical shortage of dentists in underserved Iowa counties. The program is a partnership between the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics, Iowa Area Development Group, Delta Dental of Iowa and the Iowa Department of Health.

FIND assists dentists with the repayment of up to $100,000 of dental education debt in exchange for allocating at least 35% of patient services to underserved populations over a five-year period.

USDA has been a key partner in the program by awarding nearly $3 million to 13 rural electric and rural telephone co-ops that have provided pass-through loans or revolving loan fund dollars to dentists to help establish their practices or expand services in rural Iowa. 

One such recipient of revolved loan funds was Jewell Family Dentistry and Orthodontics. The community of Jewell had been without a full-time dentist for more than 20 years.

“My wife and I liked the idea of working and raising a family in a small town where people know each other,” says Dr. Dan Scarrow of Jewell Family Dentistry and Orthodontics, who participated in the discussion. “Thanks to FIND, and a lot of work by many people, we were able to open our business one year after I graduated. There is a strong spirit of supporting local business in this community, and that has helped us continue to grow our practice.”

Leach is public information coordinator with USDA Rural Development in Iowa.