The OEO-funded Sangre de Cristo Comprehensive Health System in Costilla and Conejos Counties, Colorado, and northern Taos County, New Mexico, utilizes medical practitioners who are certified to practice a variety of medical techniques under the supervision of licensed physicians. (JM)

Context: Barriers to providing optimal palliative care in rural communities are not well understood. Purpose: To identify health care personnel's perceptions of the care provided to dying patients in rural Kansas and Colorado and to identify barriers to providing optimal care. Methods: An anonymous self-administered survey was sent to health care…

The study examined the utilization of health care facilities, the barriers to utilization, the need for health services, the coping mechanisms (family, religion, folk medicine, or other vehicles used by older persons to help cope with health problems), and the way in which the different phases (prevention, initial utilization, and maintenance) of…