In rural Texas, finding a family practice doctor is no easy feat. There are , and the need for health care is only going to increase as more people buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act. So how do we convince recent medical school graduates to strap on their boots and take root in rural clinics? Give them a taste. Turns out, they often end up sticking around.
In his green scrubs and sneakers, Will Griffin looks like a full-fledged doctor, but he鈥檚 actually a third year medical student at the University of North Texas Health Science Center鈥檚. While most medical students head to a city like Dallas for experience, Griffin chose , a town of four thousand people, and one very famous horny toad named .
鈥淢y wife and I both grew up in very small towns,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 what we wanted to go back to.鈥� Plus, he says, family practice in a small town gives you the opportunity for a lifetime relationship with your patients.
The Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine offers a select group of students the opportunity to try on the lifestyle of a rural physician. During their third year, they work and live in a rural Texas community under the supervision of a local physician. Here鈥檚 a map with photos of the class of 2015.
A Lifeline For Rural Patients
In communities like Eastland, patients rely on their doctors. , who is also Griffin鈥檚 mentor, says there鈥檚 only one internist in the county, few specialists, and no OBGYN. Cunningham has treated just about everything, from brain tumors to rabies.
鈥淲e take out skin cancers nearly every week,鈥� Cunningham says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 60 miles to the nearest dermatologist and so a lot of our elderly they can鈥檛 drive 60 miles, they can鈥檛 see that good or don鈥檛 have the money or the gas, so you end up doing a lot of things that maybe in the city they鈥檙e going to tell you you鈥檙e not going to do.鈥�
While life in rural Texas might sound romantic, the stats on rural health care are anything but. The three million Texans who live in rural areas are more likely to be uninsured, older, poorer and have higher rates of hypertension and diabetes. Add to that a serious shortage of physicians, and you鈥檝e got a system of clinics desperate for relief, ramping up for Obamacare.
鈥淚n rural Texas our practices are already busy,鈥� Cunningham says. 鈥淪o if everyone gets insurance, where are they going to go for that medical care?鈥�
Cunningham does want people in Eastland to sign up for health insurance and thinks Obamacare will ultimately improve access to health care in rural Texas, but he鈥檚 worried about recruitment.
The Affordable Care Act did add for students who commit to working in underserved areas, something both Will Griffin and his peer Chelsea Berges will take advantage of.
Class In Comanche County
When Chelsea Berges started working at in west central Texas, there was no cell phone service and internet was spotty. On the plus side, she gets to hunt 鈥� boar, pheasant, deer 鈥� and once a week there鈥檚 a video conference with the other students in the rural scholars program across Texas.
The students turn to each other for moral support, and share interesting cases.
"It鈥檚 funny 鈥榗ause I already knew I wanted to do this,鈥� Berges says, 鈥淎nd if you talk to a physician who鈥檚 making a lot of money and they ask you what you want to do and you tell them rural family medicine they just think 鈥榦h are you crazy?鈥� They assume, Berges says, that there will be horrible hours and horrible pay 鈥� which isn鈥檛 true.
鈥淚f you do family practice in a city you鈥檙e probably going to be doing coughs, colds physicals all day long,鈥� Berges says, 鈥渨hich I think is pretty boring.鈥�
鈥淥ut here in the rural place you can do anything you want to do, because there鈥檚 no one else here that鈥檚 going to do it,鈥� Berges says. 鈥淭hat keeps it interesting.鈥�
So far Berges has gotten first dibs on procedures such as bone marrow biopsies, spinal taps, even colonoscopies.
