Rural health plans get boost

CELINA - Wright State University's plan to improve rural health care recently was boosted by grants and donations totaling $700,000.

University officials on Monday announced the receipt of a $400,000 gift from the Mercer County Civic Foundation for the growing Lake Campus medical program, and a $300,000 grant for the college's Wright Rural Health Initiative from HealthPath Foundation of Ohio, a Cincinnati organization dedicated to improving Ohioans' access to health care.

The WRHI was created in 2014 to improve rural health care access by increasing the number of students and residents who train and practice in smaller communities. Goals include creating opportunities for medical, nursing and pharmacy students to work together; expanding residency training sites to include rural communities; and increasing financial aid for underrepresented students.

Lake Campus officials in June announced a collaboration with Wright State's Boonshoft School of Medicine that allows medical students pursuing a career in rural areas to study at the local university.

One of the current programs brings medical students to the area for a six-week rotation in family medicine. Students study under local physicians in the Mercer Health and Grand Lake health systems. Officials hope a "rural track" will be in place by June with 10-12 medical students doing a five-month rotation in family, pediatrics or surgery.

Boonshoft chair Dr. Therese Zink said training medical students locally would likely combat the shortage of doctors in rural locations.

"Students who are rural often think about practicing rural but may be discouraged when they train only in the cities," Zink said. "Students who grow up urban can be recruited rural ... if they spend time in rural training. And so what we're trying to do is create that here on the lake campus."

She believes longer stays in the area will help students see the merits of practicing rural medicine.

"One of the things that we hope for in lengthening the experience is that students will be around long enough to get to know people at the hospital or clinic," she said. "It allows for a more robust experience."

Three WSU of Dayton medical students were on hand to discuss their time in family practice clerkships at Mercer Health and Grand Lake. All three said they were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the facilities.

"One of the things that really surprised me that I wasn't expecting was, 'yeah, there's no trauma group right down the hall at the hospital but everything is meshed together very well here.' There's a nice little facility here," said Michael Schneider of Cincinnati, who worked with a Grand Lake system physician. "I was surprised at how well-developed a small community's hospital system could be."

The WRHI also is trying to develop a rural residency program in area health care systems. The program would take three years to implement and would be the only such plan in Ohio, Zink said.

WSU officials thanked the Mercer County Civic Foundation for the gift and HealthPath for the grant. Civic foundation members Phil Fullenkamp, John Irmscher and Bill Montgomery were on hand to learn more about the plans.

"The Mercer Health Care Foundation Fund, under the umbrella of the Mercer County Civic Foundation, is excited about the Wright Rural Health Initiative and the four-year nursing program at Wright State University-Lake Campus," Irmscher said in a prepared statement. "These developments will help us improve the health care in Mercer County as more medical, nursing and pharmacy students are introduced to providing health care in a rural area or small town. This is an investment in our future."