Local students dedicate themselves to rural medicine

Two Sidney High School students, Madison Malzahn and Paxton Ewing, both achieved positions in the Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP) this winter.

RHOP is a cooperative program between Chadron State College and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) for high school seniors who want to dedicate their careers to rural medicine, according to information from officials at Chadron State.

“The purpose of the program is to recruit and educate traditional students from rural Nebraska who will return to practice in rural areas of the state. This program represents a commitment and dedication to the education of Nebraskans and quality health care for citizens of the state,” they said.

Through the program students receive a RHOP Tuition Waver for a maximum of 16 hours of credit per semester for the years they attend Chadron State, early acceptance to UNMC while they continue their pre-professional curriculum at Chadron State and they receive a special curriculum to follow while at Chadron State that prepares them for professional school at UNMC.

The current options to take at Chadron State are dental hygiene, nursing, physical therapy, radiography, clinical laboratory science, dentistry, medicine, pharmacy and physician assistant.

Both Malzahn and Ewing wish to pursue careers in physical therapy, although different factors brought them to their decision.

“My family has a history of being in the medical field. It was easy to narrow it down for me because my sister is a physical therapist and I had done the job shadowing before,” said Malzahn.

“I tore my ACL two years ago and while rehabbing through all that I got pretty interested in it. I mean I always knew I wanted to do something in the medical field since the beginning of high school but my ACL narrowed down what I wanted to do,” said Ewing, who tore her ACL during a goat-tying competition.

“Same with me, I always liked my science classes,” added Malzahn.

To qualify for the program the recipient must be a student in Nebraska with the equivalent of a high school diploma and have a sincere interest in becoming a health care provider, as well as willingness to practice in rural Nebraska upon college graduation.

The girls applied by Dec.1 and found out the day of their interview that they had won seats in the program.

The girls had to submit three letters of recommendation, an application, ACT scores and transcripts to the Chadron State College Health Professions Office, according to RHOP officials.

The applicants were only allowed to apply to one of the colleges and had to pick their focuses prior to interviewing.

“Our application was all our academics and everything we are into and if we were well-rounded. Then our interview was to make sure we were real, had a personality and meant everything we said,” said Ewing.

“They wanted to know how you would handle different situations,” said Malzahn.

“Eight applied for physical therapy, four got interviews and three made it,” said Ewing.

The program accepts statewide applicants.

“It’s nice to have a set plan,” said Malzahn.

“You aren’t like the rest of the seniors trying to figure out what college to go to or what to do,” said Ewing.

Ewing said that the girls learned about the opportunity through friends who had applied and Malzahn’s older sister had gone through the program as well.

“They are both very good students and will do well at the next level,” said Mrs. Patricia Welch, a high school science teacher who has taught the girls for the past three years.