Could San Joaquín Valley health clinics and hospitals lure more doctors to the region if they focused more on “mission-based medicine?”
I couldn’t help but wonder that when I heard a story today on NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’ about how one hospital in rural, southwest Kansas is recruiting doctors.
Facing a medical professional shortage that threatened to close down the tiny Ashland Health Clinic, the facility’s CEO developed an innovative pitch: Medical candidates who joined the clinic could take eight weeks off each year to do missionary work overseas.
This quote, from CEO Benjamin Anderson, explains why a mission-focused provider would be attracted to working in a rural region of the country:
“When you recruit a mission-focused provider, they want to see the ghettos,” he says. “They want to know that there’s no Spanish-speaking provider in more than a one-hour drive. They want to see houses that are falling down, widows that are uncared for. They want to know that there’s need and that by them coming there, they would fill a disparity that would otherwise not be filled. So we reversed it.”
So, would this work arrangement work in the Valley? The region has fewer primary-care physicians and specialists than are recommended by nationally recognized benchmarks, according to the California Health Care Foundation. Of Valley physicians, just 6 percent are Latino.
It could certainly help fill positions at individual clinics in the region. But I suspect that pipeline programs like the high school Doctors Academy, medical school programs – like the new UC Merced San Joaquín Valley Program in Medical Education - that train doctors to address the region’s unique medical needs, and the proposed medical school at UC Merced, will more effectively fill the critical doctor and specialist shortage in the region, over the long term.
What do you think? Listen to the Harvest Public Media story, and then chime in!
Above, Agustín Morales, a student in the UC Merced San Joaquín Valley PRIME program, rallies in support of health care. Below, Selma High School student Karen Vásquez shadows nurses. By Héctor Navejas and Daniel Cásarez.
2 comments ↓
I am surprised with no mention of the UCSF Fresno training programs in your piece. While we are all excited about the potential for the UC Merced medical school, it will be 7 years minimum before the current 5 first year students are ready to practice medicine. On the other hand UCSF Fresno graduates over 70 specialists and subspecialists each year ready to assume practice.
Hi Michael – You are right, I definitely should have included UCSF Fresno in my list of programs intended to address the doctor shortage in the Valley. I have interviewed some doctors in the UCSF Fresno program, and have been impressed by their dedication to the Valley’s needs. Thanks for your comment, and for what you do.
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