Rural communities feeling the pain as lack of specialist doctors impacts patients, families

SINCE THE COVID pandemic began, the need for pulmonologists, the doctors who specialize in lung care, has soared in Shasta County. That’s a huge problem because Shasta County, like many rural counties across America, is experiencing a serious shortage of pulmonologists and the many other kinds of physician specialists who treat specific medical diseases or parts of the body. 

Shasta is part of California’s vast North State area, which has significantly worse healthcare access than the rest of California. The barriers to treatment are even higher when residents try to access care from specialist physicians. Without enough neurologists to treat Parkinson’s disease, rheumatologists to treat arthritis or orthopedists to provide bone surgery, many patients lack the ongoing specialty care needed for their chronic or acute medical conditions.