Stories from the road

Practical health guidance, real stories from our community and updates from the Atlas team — written for the people of rural Galloway.

The Atlas blue information van parked at a rural farm supplies depot in Galloway

Inside Our Travelling Health Van: Bringing Information to Galloway's Doorstep

Our mobile information unit is hitting the back roads of the Rhins and Machars to make sure no one misses out on the health guidance they deserve.

On a Tuesday morning in late February, our blue-and-white van pulled into the car park of a farm supplies depot outside Glenluce. By the time the kettle had boiled and the leaflet stands were up, three people were already waiting — a retired shepherd, a young mother who had driven in from a hamlet near Sandhead, and an older woman who said she had not spoken to anyone in the health system since her last GP appointment fourteen months ago.

Weathered hands on a farmhouse table beside a blood pressure monitor and a mug of tea

Five Practical Steps for Managing a Long-Term Condition When Your GP Is Twenty Miles Away

Distance should not mean falling through the gaps — here is straightforward guidance for people living with a chronic health condition in rural southwest Scotland.

Living with a long-term condition in rural southwest Scotland, where the nearest surgery may be a long drive along single-track roads, adds a layer of difficulty that urban healthcare planning rarely accounts for. There are, however, practical steps that can help you stay informed, monitored, and in good contact with the services you need.

A middle-aged woman and her elderly mother sitting at a farmhouse kitchen table with a telephone between them

"I Finally Understood What Was Happening": How One Carer Found Her Footing After a Difficult Diagnosis

When Margaret's mother was diagnosed with a heart condition in her eighties, every question felt harder from a remote farm at the tip of the Rhins — until one phone call changed that.

Margaret has farmed near Drummore, at the southern tip of the Rhins of Galloway, for most of her adult life. When her mother Eileen was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation in her mid-eighties and started a new medication regime, Margaret found herself managing unfamiliar territory largely alone.

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