Rural Health is a primary focus of the Capstone College of Nursing.  At CCN, we recognize the positive impact that our students, faculty and staff can have on rural counties across the state.  Our goal is to facilitate and participate in activities that work to improve access to health care services for all rural Alabamians.  Through various research initiatives, we are working to improve health outcomes for the medically underserved vulnerable populations across our state with a particular focus on children, elderly and minorities.  

CCN Health Initiatives in the following counties:

map of the state of alabama in grey with some counties colored red
  • Barbour
  • Bibb
  • Calhoun
  • Cherokee
  • Choctaw
  • Clarke
  • Clay
  • Covington
  • Dallas
  • Escambia
  • Fayette
  • Greene
  • Hale
  • Lamar
  • Lowndes
  • Marengo
  • Monroe
  • Perry
  • Pickens
  • Randolph
  • Sumter
  • Tallapoosa
  • Tuscaloosa
  • Walker
  • Washington
  • Wilcox

Rural Health Initiatives

  • Selma & Dallas Counties – She’s READY, Sexual Health Services
  • Perry & Pickens Counties – AACN COVID-19 grant
  • Perry County – Menstrual Health Education
  • Hale & Pickens Counties – Increasing STEM career paths
  • Blackbelt Counties – Bridge Program
  • Pickens & Hale Counties – HSTA-AL
  • Hale & Pickens Counties – Health Promotion/Health Prevention schools
  • Blackbelt Counties – Bridge Program
  • Dallas County – Cardiovascular Health
  • Serves on the Board of Directors-Capstone Rural Health Center
  • Rural Hospitals – Nurse Managers/Leaders in Rural Health-Resiliency
  • Walker County – GateWay Capstone: Interprofessional Behavioral Health
  • Northwest Alabama – Implementation of an Integrated TeleECHO and Health Outpost Model for Opioid Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery in Rural Alabama
  • Perry County – Uniontown Color Run, Uniontown Community Garden
  • Blackbelt counties – Project Wellness in Motion (mobile community health fairs)
  • Perry & Pickens Counties – AACN COVID-19 grant
  • Blackbelt Counties – Bridges Program
  • Walker County – Investigating the Real-Life Experience of Living with Urinary Incontinence and Heart Failure in a Rural Community
  • Perry County – Color Run
  • Hale & Pickens Counties – Health Promotion/Health Prevention schools
  • Perry & Pickens Counties – AACN COVID-19 grant
  • Blackbelt Counties – Bridge Program
  • Bibb County – Global Nursing Education Rural Vaccine Project
  • Blackbelt Counties – Bridge Program
  • Fayette & Lamar Counties – Oncology /Palliative Care/Sleep Disturbances
  • Bibb County – Global Nursing Education Rural Vaccine Project
  • All Rural Counties – Social Adjustment and Well-Being of Adolescents and Families during COVID
  • Dallas County – Prostate Cancer Prevention
  • Sumter & Hale Counties – Heart Health Initiative for older adults living in rural Alabama
  • Marengo, Sumter, Barbour, Calhoun & Lowndes Counties – Advancing Health Literacy in Alabama’s Black Belt
  • Tuscaloosa, Bibb, Hale, Greene, Sumter, Pickens, & Fayette Counties – Racial Disparities in Kidney Disease Diagnosis and Treatment
  • Choctaw, Fayette, Tuscaloosa, Bibb, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Sumter, Escambia, Covington, Monroe, Clarke, Washington, Wilcox, Clay, Cherokee, Tallapoosa & Randolph Counties – Ambulance-Based Telemedicine in Rural Alabama (Funded by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program)
  • Greene, Sumter, and Pickens Counties – HRSA III Opioid Planning Grant & HRSA IV Implementation Grant
Paige Johnson: Saxon Chair for Rural Nursing, Associate Professor

Welcome to the CCN Rural Health Initiatives!

Part of the mission of the Capstone College of Nursing is to promote the health and well-being of the people of the state of Alabama.  Alabama has 67 counties and each county has at least one rural area, even those that are unquestionably urban in population.  The Capstone College of Nursing is committed to improving health care access and health outcomes in our rural areas through teaching, research and service initiatives that are targeted at the specific needs of individual rural communities.  Through these efforts, we will instill a passion in our students to serve rural residents and improve health outcomes in rural Alabama and across the nation.  

Paige Turner Johnson, PhD, MSN, RN
Saxon Chair for Rural Nursing, Associate Professor