Rashelle Bernal never expected to end up in the hospital because she vaped. But she could be part of a nationwide outbreak of a severe lung illness that’s sickened more than 1,000 people. Researchers suspect those illnesses, and some deaths, are linked to vaping. Now, they're trying to find the precise cause.

There have been more than 1,000 illnesses and multiple deaths linked to e-cigarettes. Now some research from Butler University finds the health problems of vaping go even further. 

Some of the country’s most profound health care challenges are playing out in rural areas struggling with populations that are relatively older and sicker. This is the story of a Minnesota hospital that’s become accustomed to operating in the red.

Nine months ago, things were looking bleak for Hillsboro Community Hospital, a 15-bed facility in central Kansas about 50 miles north of Wichita. 

The critical access hospital appeared to be facing the same fate as four other rural hospitals in Kansas that have closed over the past three years. 

When Ryan Neville was brought on as the chief executive of Memorial Medical Center, the sole hospital serving Clark County, Wis., it could not get a bank loan. 

At that time, in 2013, rural safety net hospitals – those located more than 35 miles from another hospital – had a nationwide average of 69 days of cash reserves. But the Neillsville hospital lost $3 million that year and had enough reserves to pay its expenses for just four days.

Jessica Sheridan’s plan was to have her first daughter at the local hospital, five minutes from her house in Iowa Falls.

But when she was seven months pregnant, that plan suddenly changed.

On a sunny afternoon in Sedalia, Mo., a town between St. Louis and Kansas City, Jennifer and Matt Boatright escorted some unusual visitors into a pasture on their farm. They opened the heavy gate and called their sheep over to meet a half-dozen medical students from the University of Missouri system. 

The farm tour was part of a week-long program designed to introduce future doctors, pharmacists and nurses to rural life.  The goal: Get the students interested in working in rural areas.

As the school year begins, parents are checking off things they need to do, including making sure their children get required vaccines.

But some parents are opting out, and last year that led to the worst measles outbreak the U.S. has seen in more than two decades. Now, doctors and nurses are working to get more children vaccinated. 

Across the country, there have been multiple deaths, and hundreds more illnesses, linked to e-cigarettes and vaping products. Now, doctors and scientists are looking to pinpoint the cause, while health officials coordinate an effort to find out why people are getting sick.