Eighteen undergraduate students who plan to pursue health-care professions
are at the University of Nebraska Medical Center this week, Jan. 5-10,
to learn more about health issues relevant to rural communities.
The 2003 Winter Workshop, sponsored by the UNMC Rural Health Education
Network, helps the undergraduate students learn more about the issues they
will face as practitioners in rural Nebraska. The workshop attendees are
students at Chadron State College, Hastings College, Midland Lutheran College,
the University of Nebraska at Kearney and Wayne State College. All of the
students have expressed a desire to practice in rural communities, either
as a physician or a physician assistant.
The students who are attending are upbeat and enthusiastic about the
topics that theyre studying this week, said Dan Chambers, RHEN program
coordinator. Most of them are from rural settings, so theyre keenly aware
of many of the challenges that face rural providers, and theyre excited
about learning more about rural health care.
Chambers said that staff from the RHEN office and Susanna Von Essen,
M.D., professor of pulmonary medicine at UNMC, developed the weeks curriculum.
During the weeklong workshop, the students are listening to professors
and state agency representatives who work with rural health and safety
issues. The also are visiting rural community health-care facilities. The
students also are completing group presentations that will be delivered
on Friday.
The students who are attending, along with their hometown and college
or university, include:
Tessa Covington, North Platte, Chadron State College;
Natalie Shepperd, Comstock, Chadron State College;
Chelsie Lammers, Wood River, Chadron State College;
Karissa Johnson, Hershey, Chadron State College;
Connie Jurgens, Madison, Chadron State College;
Abbie Onken, Glenvil, Chadron State College;
Michelle Willmes, Hastings, Hastings College;
Beth Dixson, St. Paul, Hastings College;
Jessica Changstrom, Lincoln, Midland Lutheran College;
Jessica Schutte, Imperial, Midland Lutheran College;
Jenn Cihacek, West Point, Midland Lutheran College;
Emily Hurt, West Point, Midland Lutheran College;
Andrea Stieren, West Point, Midland Lutheran College;
Kimberly Maas, Scribner, Midland Lutheran College;
Jereme Hartman, Colon, University of Nebraska at Kearney;
Sara Enninga, Arvada, Colo., University of Nebraska at Kearney;
Elizabeth Doll, Salina, Kan., University of Nebraska at Kearney;
Isaac Berg, Henderson, Wayne State College.
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