Breaking the Silence: An Ethnography of Rural Health and Women’s Care in the Adirondacks

Abstract

This thesis examines Hudson Headwaters through an anthropological lens of medical trust due to its unique history, infrastructure, and ways of providing care compared to other U.S. community health centers. Because community health centers serve a significant number of the U.S. population (more than 31 million patients in 2023), my research explores the evolving nature of healthcare over the past fifty years using Hudson Headwaters as a case study (Pillai, Corallo, and Tolbert 2025). Due to Hudson Headwaters’ well-documented series of growth in their historical archives, I was able to detail the provision of women’s healthcare and how methods of care have changed over time from its humble beginnings providing only prenatal services to its current status as the only women’s health provider in the Glens Falls, New York area. Drawing on the oral history of Hudson Headwaters’ creation through qualitative interviews with Hudson Headwaters’ providers and staff, I aim to introduce new interpretations of the barriers that come with living in upstate New York, allowing a more multidimensional understanding of rural women’s experiences that otherwise are rendered invisible. This dissertation emphasizes the simple yet core values of successful caregiving: mutual trust, patient agency, and identifying and responding to a community and an individual’s needs.