As a third-year WWAMI student from Soda Springs, I am writing on behalf of 18 current and former rural medicine trainees in Idaho, primarily from the TRUST program. We are concerned that House Bill 368 will detrimentally impact the state’s rural physician pipeline. WWAMI, Idaho’s medical education program through the University of Washington School of Medicine, has been educating aspiring physicians from Idaho for 53 years.
Since 2013, WWAMI’s Targeted Rural and Underserved Track (TRUST) program has reserved a portion of each class for students from small towns like Cottonwood, Payette, Rockland and Victor. This program is unlike any other in the country and has established a successful pipeline for training exceptional rural physicians.
TRUST scholars spend about nine months throughout medical school embedded in rural continuity sites including half of their third year, engaged in clinical learning experiences. This program allows them to “try on” life as a small-town doctor and is currently running in Sandpoint, Orofino, Moscow, McCall, Nampa, Hailey and Jerome.
During my time as a TRUST scholar in Hailey, I had the opportunity to form truly meaningful relationships with my patients. I helped provide prenatal care for an expecting mother, assisted with her delivery, and saw her baby at a four-month well-child visit. At the other end of the spectrum of life, I had conversations with terminally ill patients about transitioning to hospice care, went on home visits, and remained involved until their passing.
It was a privilege to be part of these moments, and I realized that I want nothing more than to care for people in my community from birth to death for the rest of my career. My experiences as a TRUST scholar are not unique to me, and I have seen how these formative patient encounters have shaped the career trajectories of my peers.
Many TRUST scholars like me grew up traveling significant distances to receive necessary care. All of us professionally have seen poor health outcomes stemming from inadequate health care access. In addition to our lived experiences, many current students, alongside our non-TRUST peers, conducted research at 22 rural Idaho clinical sites, which found that service access was the most frequently perceived barrier to providing care.
Simply put, Idaho needs more doctors. We support the formation of a committee of experts through the Idaho State Board of Education who can provide the Legislature with guidance on improving medical education in Idaho. We know a plan with rural Idahoans’ best interests at heart will always include initiatives like TRUST through the WWAMI program.
House Bill 386 will take 10 seats away from WWAMI, with the potential to cut more annually until the program is obsolete. If Idaho reduces seats or cuts ties altogether with the WWAMI program, causing future students to miss out on experiences like TRUST, it will be a huge loss for all rural communities in the state.
It has been alleged that WWAMI does not embody Idaho values, but that could not be further from the truth. TRUST has become a pipeline where hardworking students from rural and underserved backgrounds can receive outstanding training, preparing them to serve the communities they know and love.
Caring for one’s neighbor is intrinsically Idahoan and something the state should be proud to support. As current and former TRUST scholars and rural medicine trainees, we are the future of rural health care in Idaho and ask our legislators to work together with eth State Board of Education to develop a physician workforce that will serve Idahoans in the areas where we are needed the most.
