UC Merced Magazine | Volume XVIII, Issue IV

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How can the SJV PRIME+ medical education collaboration improve KHDOWK FDUH LQ WKH 6DQ -RDTXLQ 9DOOH\"b Vener: e Valley has the single biggest shortage of health professionals in the state. e goal of this program is to cultivate a diverse workforce of health care providers who are from the Valley, for the Valley. Nancy Burke, UC Merced professor of public health and anthropology: A mission of UC Merced is to impact this region economically in terms of health writ large – reducing health disparities, increasing access to care and health professionals. Describe some of the important features of the UC Merced pathway. Vener: We’ve added experiences to the traditional bachelor’s of science pathway to help learners get an early sense of what it means to be a health care professional. For instance, what does it really mean to take care of patients? How does one listen with compassion? Can they embrace the privilege – that grace – of being a young, healthy person taking care of someone who is older or sicker or struggling? ere’s a lot of identity formation. Also, physicians are reaching out to say, “I’d love to have a student volunteer.” We’re working to create an engaged cadre of clinicians in the community through which our students can rotate. Deborah Wiebe, professor of health psychology, faculty director of UC Merced Health Sciences Research Institute: Nearly a third of the UC Merced faculty are interested in health science issues. ey came here because they are interested in the complex health issues our region faces.

Why has it been difficult to improve physician-to-patient ratios in the Valley? How can SJV PRIME+ FKDQJH WKLV"b Wiebe: I think young people grew up in this region not viewing themselves as being able to address the problem. Having UC Merced in the region has started to change that. ese are individuals who want to be here, who have been exposed to the Valley’s health problem through their families and personal experiences. ey have seen the inequities, but also how they can be part of that solution. Banh: e San Joaquin Valley has the lowest per-capita amount of primary care and specialty physicians in California. San Francisco, for example, has more than two and a half times that amount. e gap is immense. Consequently, there aren’t enough doctors to perform surgeries, so patients are forced to travel to larger cities to receive care, which is tough to do with limited income and transportation options. On top of that, many people in underserved populations are uninsured or on Medicare.

We hope students enrolled in SJV PRIME+ will practice medicine in the Valley, but there’s no guarantee of that. How does the program SJV PRIME+ counter the attraction of bigger opportunities and larger FRPSHQVDWLRQ RXWVLGH WKH 9DOOH\"b Dr. Loren Alving, SJV PRIME director, professor of neurology at UCSF Fresno: Research shows that the best predictors of where a person ends up practicing is where they were trained and where they grew up. Keeping them here is hugely important. By combining the two, we increase the likelihood students will remain in the Valley to practice. Vener: When we interviewed candidates for our rst cohort, the rst thing we asked was, ‘Why are you interested in being a physician for your community?” eir answers went right to the core of what matters. “I want to be the rst health care provider from my family.” “Because my family come to this country as immigrants and didn’t have health insurance.” “I want to be a role model for people who look like me.”

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