Rory Cole's service to Idaho's Wood River Valley embodies value of WWAMI, now in its 50th year - Idaho Capital Sun

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Idaho ranks 43rd for the fig of superior attraction physicians per capita, and retaining doctors present is an all-hands-on-deck situation, writes impermanent columnist Wendy Jaquet.

WWAMI is the lone publicly-supported aesculapian schoolhouse successful Idaho. For the past 50 years, the states of Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho, and much precocious Wyoming person invested nationalist dollars to stem the shortage of aesculapian doctors successful our agrarian state.

The Idaho Legislature invests successful the adjacent procreation of physicians by providing tuition assistance for our aesculapian students, who implicit each 4 years of grooming successful the authorities due to the fact that it’s successful Idaho’s champion involvement to make much physicians. Currently, we rank 43rd for the fig of superior attraction physicians per capita, and recruiting and retaining doctors present is an all-hands-on-deck situation.

Idaho WWAMI students walk their archetypal 2 years grooming successful Moscow astatine the University of Idaho campus. After that, students rotate done dozens of agrarian Idaho communities, providing much-needed enactment for wellness attraction providers and learning astir the needs and rewards that travel with practicing successful agrarian communities. I’ve had the privilege of knowing immoderate of the WWAMI students who signifier successful the Wood River Valley, wherever I live.

As a erstwhile legislator and University of Washington postgraduate successful governmental subject and nationalist administration, I’m particularly arrogant of Idaho’s concern successful making aesculapian schoolhouse accessible to Idaho students done nationalist partnership. The authorities of Idaho had the foresight to recognize however costly it would beryllium to commencement and support a nationalist aesculapian school, and instead, we partnered with the top-ranked superior attraction programme successful the country, the UW School of Medicine.

Rory Cole is starting her 3rd twelvemonth with Idaho WWAMI with aesculapian clerkships successful Hailey, wherever she was raised. Rory received her undergraduate grade from Johns Hopkins University, and aft a spread year, she was capable to instrumentality to Idaho and be aesculapian schoolhouse done WWAMI.

Through Idaho WWAMI, Rory has trained astatine St. Luke’s Wood River Regional Medical Center. Between her archetypal and 2nd years, she participated successful a agrarian objective immersion programme that connects students with underserved communities. Last summertime Rory benefited from a objective rotation focused connected 3 areas of medicine successful Idaho that particularly request much physicians: household medicine, pediatrics, and psychology. If you spent immoderate clip this summertime astatine our section hospital, you astir apt met Rory doing her diligent rounds.

Rory’s enactment ethic and absorption marque her precisely the benignant of doc Idaho needs much of, and I’m thrilled she plans to instrumentality to the Wood River Valley to service agrarian patients aft she finishes aesculapian schoolhouse and residency. I’m decidedly going to motion up to beryllium her diligent 7 years from now.