McPherson College and KU partner to strengthen Kansas’ rural health workforce

Rural Kansas has sweeping plains, golden wheat fields, and a sky that stretches as far as the eye can see. What it doesn’t have is what so many other rural areas also are lacking — a sustainable healthcare workforce. Now, a new partnership between the tiny McPherson College in McPherson, Kan., and the University of Kansas School of Medicine’s Salina campus will provide the college’s approximately 800 students with opportunities to experience what it takes to provide healthcare in a rural area.

McPherson and KU will explore partnerships in subjects such as career development, community health resources and rural health promotion. Moreover, qualified McPherson College students will be granted guaranteed admission to KU School of Medicine’s Rural Scholars and Urban Scholars program, and the KU School of Medicine will provide a scholarship for one McPherson student to participate in mentored student research and team-teaching experiences. Faculty, staff and students from the KU-Salina campus will visit McPherson as guest lecturers both inside classrooms and for special events.

“Rural healthcare is in crisis,” said TylerHughes, M.D., dean of the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Salina. “This collaboration is aimed at helping rural students have access to the pathway that leads to a satisfying career in the medical field.”