By
Rebecca Missel
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Medical students broaden horizons with small town service
For the 8,500 residents of Page, Ariz. even basic medical care is hard to find.
Frequently, people must travel for five hours to the nearest hospital for emergency attention.
"It's critical that there's a doctor in town when getting to Flagstaff is not an option," said Christy Buck, a third-year medical student and participant in the University of Arizona College of Medicine's Rural Health Professions Program.
Since 1997, about 60 College of Medicine students have participated in the Rural Health Professions Program, linking medical students to local physicians in under-served communites. About 25 students apply to the program annually, but the $60,000 in-state funds only provide for 15 participants from each class.
"Having grown up in a small town, there's a whole other set of issues," Buck said. "The drive to medical care is obscene, and there are no specialists."
In the summer after their first year, students begin their first rotation that lasts four to six weeks. Students work closely with the local doctor, aiding in daily work and getting to know the people during the rotation.
"Family doctors have a broader scope of practice because they are it," said Carol Galper, program coordinator. "A disease is a disease, but for a population with less access to care it seems more complicated."
Later, in medical students' third and fourth years, they return to their original community.
"I really liked living in a small town," Buck said. "I know the patients' medical problems, everyone goes to church together, the kids go to school together and I know my patients in more than the medical sense."
Nancy Koff, College of Medicine curricular affairs associate dean, said the program also helps build bonds between the students and the local doctors.
"The wonderful relationships are really the most exciting part of the program," Koff said. "Students find a mentor and come back raving about education, and for the physicians it's exciting because they have a student to keep them current and to challenge them."
The program has served 29 areas across Arizona in hopes of training more rural physicians, Galper said.
"We cover the Four Corners of the State - from Page and Chinle to Casa Grande to Sierra Vista and Douglas," she said. "The communities get to entice students, and if they have a great experience then we have more practicing physicians."
For Brannick Riggs, a fourth-year medical student, serving in rural communities is important for two reasons.
"First, it's the rural, under-served people that are the grass roots of this country but they are medically forgotten," he said. "There's no need in larger cities for doctors and it's nice to be needed."
Riggs also said the autonomy afforded to small town doctors builds a better practice.
"You're not controlled by the HMOs, which is beneficial to both physician and patient," he said.
From the education angle, Koff said the program takes students out of the familiar classroom environment and encourages them to explore different ways of practicing medicine.
"Most of your education takes place in these institutions and cities with access to a full range of health care," she said. "It's critical for those motivated to work in this field to know how do you function where you don't have these resources."
Just returning from her second rotation in Page, Buck said she expanded her knowledge of rural community practice.
"I got a better, more accurate picture of the life of a small town doctor," she said. "It has all its advantages, but it's a fishbowl too."
