Building Partnerships to Improve Health in the Rural South: CareSouth Carolina

Background Communities in the Pee Dee region along the coastal plains of South Carolina were already suffering, and then came the storms. In the last few years, powerful hurricanes have destroyed crops, washed out roads and bridges, and generally made lives more complicated in a region already marked by high poverty rates and poor health. By knocking out major thoroughfares, the hurricanes also have made it harder for CareSouth Carolina, a federally qualified health center (FQHC), to treat patients across this sprawling region.