On Monday, October 21, the Rural Utilities Service of the USDA connected with 19 sites across the United States to announce awards of 71 distance learning and telemedicine grants. These grants, which total more than $27 million, will provide greater educational opportunities and medical services to rural citizens in 33 states.

Awarding of these DLT grants underline the Bush Administration’s commitment to the deployment of broadband across this country and to see that families in rural America have the same tools and opportunities as any other citizen. As the President said at the Economic Forum in Waco in August regarding broadband, “In order to make sure the economy grows, we must bring the promise of broadband technology to millions of Americans…and broadband technology is going to be incredibly important for us to stay on the cutting edge of innovation here in America.”

The road that rural residents are traveling to solve their health care and educational challenges is not the interstate highway system, but rather the information superhighway. The vehicle that is helping them to get there is funding assistance from USDA’s Rural Utilities Service.

Forty-six distance education grants of more than $18.5 million will help 794 schools to equip rural students with educational tools for global digital economy. Remote students will be able to participate in advanced placement classes, school systems will share specialized teachers, educators will take continuing education courses, and communities will have access to GED studies.

In addition to the distance education grants, 25 telemedicine grants of nearly $8.6 million will give rural patients of 422 medical service providers access to better, faster, and more modern health care.

Participants of the videoconference announcements saw firsthand the remarkable things that USDA funding through Rural Development’s Rural Utilities Service is doing for the citizens of rural America.

During the event, participants hopped from Alabama to Alaska and Maine to California in the blink of an eye. They heard from two 7th graders in upstate New York whose classes are able to talk to people from all walks of life via videoconference and explore careers and job opportunities. As Sara, one of the students, so eloquently put it, her world has been opened to unlimited possibilities through the people she has met over videoconference.

Participants also heard from doctors who save time, thousands of dollars in unnecessary medical expenses, and most importantly, lives, by utilizing video links. In examples from across the country, they heard about 18 HIV patients who were receiving patient care remotely, adolescents receiving hard-to-find psychiatric counseling, and expert neo-natal care linked to isolated communities.

More than 250 people gathered at sites in Alabama, Alaska, California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.