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Show Health Care Questions j Discussed In Garfield County Medical Series (Editor's Note - This is the second in a series of three articles dealing with health care in Garfield County. The articles are written by Stanley J. Bezak, M.D., Harry J. Cavanagh, M.D. and Donald L. Lappe. M. D.) How is the government helping this area or is it? This area because of its isolation and distances has been given an H.E.W. grant called the Rural Health Initiative which is the only one given to the five state region for fiscal year '75. It is this money which is being used to set up and equip the clinics, The federal government realizes that rural areas like ours will always have trouble attracting doctors as the old ones leave or retire from practice so they have given this grant to develop an innovative system that may be used as a model In other areas. If you have interesting ideas on how to develop this system, submit them to this newspaper. Why do doctors setUe in big cities? Because of changes in the past 25 years In medical education and the emphasis on specialization, attracting doctors to rural areas is much more difficult than it was 25 years ago. We doctors hope to become clinical instructors right here in Garfield County of medical students who would spend 4 to 6 weeks in Panguitch and the satellite clinics. If these students can see that rural practice offers exciting professional opportunities and stimulation, more of these doctors-to-be may settle into rural family practice rather that the overstocked big city specialists. What is the National Health Service Corp (NHSC)? The three physicians wno are serving your area have all completed their training contrary to rumors being heard. They were recruited for the area by the NHSC which Is a branch of the Public Health Service. The NHSC has been called the least bureaucratic, most direct self-help program the federal government has ver designed. It was created in 1970 specifically to place physicians in small towns that were having difficulty recruiting private physicians or organizing themselves for this purpose. The community pays the NHSC $22,000 for each physician so it is not a government give away. If our services are not used a deficit will have to be made up by the county. This is the reason for fee-for-service exactly simulating private practice. Over the course of two years we doctors observe the community's commitment to and acceptance of modern medical practice, its ability to pay bills which are defined by standards for rural Utah accepted throughout the state, and the suitableness of the area as a place to permanently live. It is the hope of the NHSC that the community will prove itself attractive for the physicians and likewise give NHSC physicians a chance to get to know the area without taking a great financial risk Initially. |