For Immediate Release

Carr Visits Mississippi with Senator Wicker 
Focus on Telehealth and Rural Broadband Initiatives

BATESVILLE, MS, April 1, 2021—Today, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is in Mississippi for events focused on the FCC’s role in promoting telehealth and rural connectivity.  He will visit a number of sites with Senator Roger Wicker, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Carr will first join Senator Wicker at a rural broadband build in Batesville to learn about the important role that the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction will play in accelerating the deployment of high-speed Internet services in rural Mississippi as well as the challenges of building infrastructure in these areas.  

They will then travel to the North Sunflower Medical Clinic in Ruleville to discuss the role of telehealth technology in the treatment of patients in remote parts of the Mississippi Delta.  Carr first visited Ruleville in 2018 after Senator Wicker highlighted North Sunflower’s pioneering work in connected care and remote patient monitoring.  The ideas generated during that 2018 visit provided the foundation for the FCC’s now nationwide $450 million COVID-19 Telehealth Program and its separate $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program—initiatives that helped health care providers around the country meet the surge in demand for telehealth over the past year. 

Afterwards, they will visit the Center for Telehealth at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC).  UMMC is at the forefront of the connected care trend and is an awardee in both the first round of the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program and the Connected Care Pilot Program.    

They will end the day at Jackson State University, an HBCU, where they visit the Department of Communications to discuss the evolution of the communications industry, the impact of the Internet on curriculums and post-graduation employment, and the benefits of collegiate journalism and media studies programs.

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Office of Commissioner Brendan Carr: (202) 418-2200
www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/brendan-carr

Media Contact:  Greg Watson
(202) 418-0658 or gregory.watson@fcc.gov