The National Health Service Corps helps both students and communities in need.
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| Martha Williams |
Established in 1972, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC)?was developed to respond to the growing need to recruit primary care providers into rural and underserved communities. The Corps currently funds primary care physicians, dentists, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and others to work in rural or underserved settings. There are two types of corps providers. The first are the loan repayors; the second are NHSC Scholars. Each group will eventually practice in a Health Professional Shortage Area, which is a federal designation that an area needs primary medical care, dental, and mental health providers.
Scholars commit to serve in a rural or underserved area while in school, and in return, they have their medical or professional education paid for as they progress. Loan repayors commit to serve after they finish their training. The current amount of educational debt payback they can receive through the program is up to $170,000.
Martha Williams, a physician assistant, recently began a two-year NHSC Scholar obligation in Rolla, N.D., at Northland Community Health Center, a facility that provides access to quality health care for anyone regardless of ability to pay. Rolla (population 1,428) is an agricultural community in north central North Dakota about 23 miles from the Canadian border.
We recently had a chance to visit with Williams about the NHSC program and her new practice setting.
Rolla is a long way from your home in West Virginia. How did you come to the decision to choose this location to practice?
I’m a National Health Service Corps Scholar, so the federal government paid my way through PA school. In return, I agreed to practice for two years in a rural or underserved area. I started looking at clinics on the NHSC website and began conversations with recruiting facilities. At the NHSC Scholar conference that is held each year for scholars to meet facilities, I met three employees from the Northland Community Health Center and a Center for Rural Health staffer.
After the conference, I had countless conversations and e-mails with the facility and eventually went on the interview in October 2010. After I interviewed in Rolla, I interviewed at other facilities on the East Coast. The things that made North Dakota stand out were that everyone was very thoughtful and helpful, each individual was pleasant to speak to, and it was a great recruitment experience. Also, when I spoke with the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Cid, she informed me how a provider would work within the clinic. What she told me was what I was hoping my first job would be like. I didn’t want to be practicing completely alone, but I also didn’t want someone looking over my shoulder every step of the way. The environment in Rolla fit the practice style I was looking for.
