ROCHESTER, Minn. - It's a continuing issue across the nation, Mayo Clinic is working to address the challenges that rural communities face within healthcare.

Around 400 healthcare leaders, providers, administrators, researchers and educators attended Mayo's 'Transforming Community and Rural Healthcare' symposium. The two-day session addressed the issues of provider shortages, lack of transportation and the unique healthcare needs within rural communities.

Staff from Mayo Clinic in Owatonna talked about how they reached out to the middle and high schools in the area with its mobile clinic to provide immunization on orientation day as many families were unable to meet that need for their kids.

Mayo Clinic Health System Chair of Education Dr. Andrew Calvin says, "we're hoping that attendees take away some ideas and practical examples for how they can collaborate with members of their own community so that they can do a better job in prevention of disease, detection of disease and provision of medical care."

Two Alix School of Medicine students also shared their rural health education outreach program that they started. It's working to provide students interactive experiences in rural communities and ultimately recruit and train students to work within these areas. As Mayo has worked to create solutions like these, there is still more that can be done.

Dr. Calvin says, "we're investing in our community education efforts, our research, trying to figure out how to best provide medical care to the communities we serve so our patients get the best medical care at the best location for them to get what they need."

The sessions featured speakers and panelists both nationally and locally from a variety of universities, clinics and organizations. This is the second year that Mayo Clinic has hosted this event. The hospital serves more than 600,000 patients each year in both large medical centers and rural primary care clinics.