Ariz. weekly tells well the story of rural physicians

The story of recruiting doctors to rural areas is an old one, but as long as the need exists, it's worth telling. Pete Aleshire of the Payson Roundup in Arizona, one of the nation's larger weekly newspapers (circulation 18,000), does a nice job of introducing the issue in human terms:

Midnight phone calls.
Lack of specialist backup.
Ever-present patients.
Big city wives.
Oh, the challenges of being an up-to-date doctor in a small town.

Of course, then there’s the great relationships with your patients, the tight-knit medical community, the community connections, the nice house, the acreage and fishing just down the road.
Ah, the joys of rural medicine.

Aleshire also gives the basic data: "While 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas — only 9 percent of the nation’s doctors practice in those areas, according to a study of rural medicine published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Worse yet, only 3 percent of students in medical school say they intend to practice in a rural area."

He adds, "People living in rural areas generally have more medical problems, which reflects higher poverty rates — which in 2000 ran at 14 percent in rural areas and 11 percent in urban areas. Moreover, people living in rural areas are less likely to have medical coverage, which means their doctors more often find themselves treating patients without insurance."

For the whole 1,500-word story, click here.