The following is an excerpt from a document entitled "List of Rural Counties And Designated Eligible ZIP Codes in Metropolitan Counties" (dated 5/31/2002) as created by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office of Rural Health Policy for use in specific grant programs. This criteria was used by the New Hampshire Bureau of Emergency Medical Services (NHBEMS) during the 2002 Rural Access to Emergency Devices Grant while partnering with the EMS Regional Councils to place the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) machines in NH communities.

For a complete list, contact the US DHHS Office of Rural Health Policy at 1-301-443-0835.

"The Office of Rural Health Policy is using a new method to determine "rural" eligibility. As in prior years, all counties that are not designated as parts of Metropolitan Areas (MAS) by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)are considered rural."

"This year the Office of Rural Health Policy has used the Rural Urban Commuting Area Codes (RUCAs), developed by the WWAMI Rural Research Center at the University of Washington and the Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Services, to designate "Rural" areas within MAS. The WWAMI Rural Research Center has mapped Census Tracts to ZIP codes and organizations whose headquarters are in the designated ZIP codes are eligible to apply for Rural Health grants, provided they meet all other requirements."

"Please check the lists carefully."

The list is in two sections.

Section I is a list of states with the names of rural counties that are in the State. Any organization that is located in one of these counties is automatically eligible for the Rural Health Outreach, Network Development, or Rural AED Grant Programs.

There are, however, some exceptions to this rule.

1. The New England States, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhodes Island and Vermont contain counties, cities, towns that have divisions that are different than typical counties. Some areas in these States are eligible and have been listed in the regular type face. Other areas, listed in bold, are only partially eligible. Those areas listed after the words "**Except in" are not eligible. However, the rest of the areas within these divisions are eligible for the programs."

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Belknap, Carroll, Cheshire, Coos and Grafton counties.

Hillsborough
**Except in:

Amherst, Bedford, Brookline, Goffstown, Greenville, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, Manchester, Mason, Merrimack, Milford, Mont Vernon, Nashua, Pelham, Weare and Wilton.

Merrimack
**Except in:

Allenstown and Hooksett.

Rockingham
**Except in:

Atkinson, Auburn, Brentwood, Candia, Chester, Danville, Derry, Fremont, East Kingston, Epping, Exeter, Greenland, Hampton, Hampton Falls, Hampstead, Kensington, Kingston, Londonderry, New Castle, New Fields, Newington, Newton, Newmarket, North Hampton, Plaistow, Portsmouth, Raymond, Rye, Salem, Seabrook, Sandown, South Hampton, Stratham and Windham.

Strafford
**Except in:

Barrington, Dover, Durham, Farmington, Lee, Madbury, Milton, Rochester, Rollinsford and Somersworth

Sullivan