Dayspring Health partnered with a Texas university to give future medical providers firsthand experience serving rural communities in Kentucky and Tennessee last week.
Baylor University in Waco, Texas, sent seven faculty members and 15 undergraduate and graduate students on a weeklong “Rural Health Immersion” trip throughout Knoxville, Clairfield, Jellico and Williamsburg. The program members visited Dayspring facilities, engaged with locals and assisted with community programming including a senior bingo and brunch event hosted at the Dayspring Regional Health Center in Williamsburg.
Dayspring CEO and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Geogy Thomas said the program equipped students for their future careers by showing them what rural health in America looks like in impoverished areas.
“Having Baylor students here has been so inspiring,” he said. “There are universities seeing how to equip the next generation to step into the hard places and have the hard conversations about the future of healthcare.”
Director of Baylor’s Healthcare MBA Program Dan Wood said immersing students in rural communities makes them understand the needs of a population better than remote lessons can teach.
“Our students are going out to a lot of different health care systems where unfortunately making money is the driving factor, but what can they do within the context of their positions to still make a difference?” Wood said. “We can’t fix everything, but if everyone can do a piece at a time, we can make the world a lot better.”
While in Clairfield, students learned about the lasting impact the mining industry on the community and met with researchers trying to promote agricultural growth despite coal waste in the area. In Williamsburg, students saw a more recent example of struggles rural communities can face through the fire damage in the downtown area.
“When they get into their careers, they can have the knowledge of these communities in needs,” Wood said. “Even if they don’t go into rural communities, they will understand there is still desperate need in urban communities.”
Baylor pre-med student Hannah Beth Maria is from Salado, Texas, another rural area that she said gave her a passion for underserved areas before the “Rural Health Immersion” trip. She said she and other students have been inspired by the intentionality of Dayspring’s providers.
“The providers here have such a passion and drive to support the community in the way they need,” she said. “It’s been cool and inspiring to see for people going into healthcare. I want to become one of those providers that makes patients feel like they are in a family.”
