What really shapes a person's health—and why does medical care account for only a small piece of the outcome? In this episode of Rural Builds, host Rob Birdman Hephner sits down at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with Aaqil Khan, a rural systems builder working at the intersection of technology, healthcare, and community change. Khan shares his work with Collectively, an AI-driven company focused on improving financial health literacy and patient billing experiences, alongside his passion project, Connected Communities—a three-county coalition in Northwest Illinois addressing substance use disorder, food insecurity, and housing stability. Together, they break down what "social determinants of health" really mean in everyday terms: housing, food access, transportation, education, and the ongoing stress caused by instability. The conversation traces how efforts to address substance use disorder led upstream to deeper root causes like childhood trauma, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and lack of social connection. Khan explains how recovery housing, sober living homes, community fridges, and recovery-friendly workplaces are all connected—and why housing, transportation, and employment form the foundation for lasting recovery and economic stability. This episode also takes on stigma head-on, emphasizing why language matters, how data helps communities understand impact, and why building trust among local stakeholders is the hardest—and most important—work. It's a grounded, practical conversation about empathy, systems thinking, and how rural communities can build healthier futures by seeing the whole person, not just the problem. RURAL BUILDS is brought to you by Birdman Media™ and supported by the following sponsors; Please visit their sites for more information and support them when you can. Sitgreaves Community Development Corporation Mountain Retreat Realty Experts
