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Community, Health, and Family

Navigating Healthcare Access in a High-Poverty Nonmetro County: Early Findings from Buchanan County, Virginia Morgan Montañez*, Morgan Montanez,

This paper presents early findings from an ongoing qualitative study of healthcare access in Buchanan County, Virginia. Drawing on participant observation in local aid organizations and preliminary interviews with residents and service providers, I examine how people navigate medical care in a high-poverty, nonmetro context with limited local infrastructure. Initial findings highlight persistent barriers related to distance, transportation, provider scarcity, changes in insurance coverage due to national policy/funding shifts, as also how residents interpret and manage these constraints in everyday life. This work continues previous research done in New Mexico looking at how infrastructure in other parts of the country impact resident’s ability to use and trust in healthcare available.