Silver City, NM: The spotlight of National Rural Health Day shined brightly on Silver City, as long time nonprofit leader Susan Wilger was selected as a "Community Star" by the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH), which sponsors the national observance day.

According to NOSORH's website, "community stars" have made a positive impact on their local rural communities and demonstrated a long-term commitment to improving rural health.

The two organizations Wilger works for, the National Center for Frontier Communities (NCFC) and the Southwest Center for Health Innovation (CHI), have a mission to lead collaborative advocacy for underserved communities. The goal is to develop and promote programs to address issues that can then be disseminated to other areas.

Wilger was honored by the recognition, "When people think of equity, they typically do not think of geographic equity. Much of the work I do through CHI and NCFC is about raising the voice and visibility of rural and frontier communities; to be recognized for our great assets and contributions and to not be left out or behind when it comes to building our resources."

Since arriving in New Mexico in 2000, Wilger has worked throughout southwestern New Mexico to promote and build services in the areas of early childhood development, behavioral health, domestic violence prevention, primary health care and public health.

Wilger currently serves on the New Mexico Alliance of School-based Health Care (NMASBHC), a state-wide group that advocates for continued and expanded services to assure that students have access to the care they need to be healthy, and the steering committee for New Mexico Health Equity Partnership.

NOSORH created National Rural Health Day to showcase the good work of America's 62 million rural and frontier residents and promote the efforts of NOSORH, State Offices of Rural Health and others in addressing those concerns. To learn more about rural health visit: https://nosorh.org/calendar-events/nrhd/

For more information on CHI or NCFC contact (575) 534-0101 or email: info@swchi.org.