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September 3, 2010

Center holds promise of greatly imporving regions health care

Anonymous The Independent The Daily Independent Fri Sep 03, 2010, 06:00 AM EDT

ASHLAND — Quality health care in rural eastern Kentucky has taken a giant step forward with the opening of the Center for Health Education and Research in Morehead.

A joint project of Morehead State University, the University of Kentucky and St. Claire Medical Center in Morehead, the center on St. Claire’s campus will greatly improve the quality of health care in this region in a number of different ways. Among them are:

-- It will allow medical students in the UK College of Medicine’s Rural Physician Leadership Program to complete their final two years of training in Morehead. As the Pikeville College of Osteopathic Medicine has already shown, doctors who receive their training in eastern Kentucky are more likely to practice in this region. With osteopaths graduating in Pikeville and medical doctors soon to be completing their studies in Morehead, the serious shortage of medical care professionals in many rural counties is being effectively addressed.

-- Research at the center will concentrate on the health problems that particularly plague this region, including diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high rates of smoking, and some types of cancer. As Gov. Steve Beshear said at the opening of the new center, the 10 least healthy counties in Kentucky are all rural and nine of them are in the eastern part of the state. That should give researchers at the center both the incentive and the passion to seek better ways to treat these illnesses and maybe even find cures for them. While Morehead State is not primarily a research university, the University of Kentucky is and much of its research on rural health issues will be moved to Morehead.

-- The center also will train nurses and a wide-range of medical technicians, many of whom will likely stay in the region. The center is an excellent recruiting tool for those seeking careers in health care.

-- The center can boost economic development in an area where good-paying jobs are scarce. Access of quality medical care is one of the things companies look for when seeking communities in which to locate, and the center will greatly improve medical care in the region.

Never before have a land-grant university, a regional university and a non-profit hospital corporation formed a partnership to create something like the Center for Health Education and Research. Their combined efforts will benefit this region for generations to come.

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