Once a month, badly needed food and health care come to the small rural towns that dot the country roads of Chaves County.
In this part of the state, one-quarter of the people live below the federal government's poverty line. They've been hit hard by rising food and gas prices. So when the Roadrunner food pantry hands out 50 pounds of groceries for $2, that's an offer locals can't refuse.
JANE BATSON, dean of health, Eastern New Mexico University: Did you go get your blood pressure checked?
BETTY ANN BOWSER: While people wait for food, Jane Batson works the line, looking for those with health care problems.
JANE BATSON: Have you got one?
NEW MEXICO RESIDENT: Oh, a doctor? No.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: As dean of health at Eastern New Mexico University Roswell, Batson is keenly aware that nearly one quarter of the people in New Mexico have no health insurance. That's the second-highest percentage of any state in the nation.
Many of these people work for the small businesses that drive much of the economy of the state and whose owners can't afford to offer health insurance.
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