DARKE COUNTY — For the past few years, Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University has been placing third-year medical students in rural health systems in Auglaize and Mercer counties, so the students can experience rural medicine, and hopefully develop an interest and desire to practice in a rural area (ideally, west central Ohio).
“One year ago, this program received grant funding, so growth was possible,” said Lori Martensen, director of the Wright Rural Health Initiative. ” I was hired in May, and Family Health Services (FHS) of Darke County is now also taking these students. The students come for six weeks and work with physicians in the various FHS offices, and they live in a house provided by Wayne HealthCare. We hope to add rotations beyond just Family Medicine, whether they be at FHS or the hospital. The goal is to have enough physicians and specialties on board that a student could stay for four to six continuous months, and really experience life in Greenville.”
Recently, one of these students, Karolin Ginting, split her time between Dr. Sherry Adkins in New Madison and Dr. Carlos Menendez in Greenville at both Family Health facilities.
While Ginting is not a Darke County native, the student who did the previous rotation was, and her intention is to practice in the area when she is done with her training.
Ginting told The Daily Advocate she was on a six-week rotation with Family Health and worked with many patients during her time here.
“My favorite was seeing the continuum of care that they provided the patients,” Ginting said. “I was at Dr. Adkins’ office for 5 1/2 weeks and spent two days a week with her. I spent half the time with Dr. Menendez. They equally complement each other. I liked working with Menendez. He does obstetrics care for patients and Dr. Adkins had more pediatrics care and both did chronic illness management.”
Ginting said she is really interested in primary care on the medical side compared to internal medicine and psychology, but noted that she likes all of them.
“I have also considered family medicine,” she said. “I have a year and a half of medical school to go before I become a doctor. I am definitely interested in coming back here. I am also applying for rural surgical next year or somewhere else in Ohio.”
She went on, “I had a great time. I hope more students go there [Family Health].”
The third-year student said she was born in South Carolina, and grew up in Indonesia. She has been in Ohio for seven or eight years and studied at Miami University in Oxford.
While visiting the local doctor’s offices from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, she had to go back once a week to classes, but spent most of her time here, enjoying visits in downtown Broadway in Greenville.
“It was fun visiting the local shops,” she said.
Dr. Adkins had this to say of Ginting: “I loved having a student! It helps bring me back to the heart of medicine and what got me excited about working with patients to begin with. Also, it’s great to have a fresh perspective on the patients concerns and treatment as well as how we do things in the office. Of course, I like working with Wright State students in particular. That brings back good memories from my time at Wright State Medical School with lots of the same great faculty still teaching students. I think that’s something not everyone knows about doctors. Part of our lifeblood is working together as colleagues. It is very energizing.”
Over the last six weeks, Ginting worked with Adkins by interviewing and examining patients, reporting to the doctor her impressions and plan for the patient, and then Adkins and Ginting worked together to refine the plan.
“She worked with me on several home visits,” Adkins added. “She observed in-office procedures and even completed a quality improvement project to help us with our no show rate. The staff enjoyed working with her and I am so thrilled by my patients who are teaching the next generation of doctors.”
