States grapple with shortage of rural doctors

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. I remember some years ago

a town somewhere in the south, I forget where but I think it may have been in Arkansas or Missouri, decided to sponsor a young man from there who wanted to become a doctor. They raised money for his tuition etc. on the promise that he would come back and be their doctor, and he did. AFAIK he is still practicing there. This could be one way to get a primary care practitioner. Of course, if you don't have a young person in your area with those ambitions, the next best thing you could do, I suppose, would be to sponsor an immigrant doctor. Before you turn up your nose at that, I have to tell you that when I was volunteering with RAM (Remote Area Medical), I often drove through some very rural areas and would see a doctor's office with a surprising name that didn't seem to "belong" to the area. I know when I worked in east Tennessee, in hospitals but especially in home health, I would often deal with foreign doctors who had settled in rural areas. One in particular that I dealt with was a Pakistani Muslim, very nice guy, who practiced in a small town where he was the only primary care doctor. He'd been there for about 10 years and his patients absolutely loved him. One of my patients said of him, "Well sure, he's a Muslim, but he's our Muslim!" They wouldn't hear anyone talk him down.