2011 Rural Kansas Photography Contest

Time is running out! Only three weeks left to enter photos for this year's Rural Kansas Photography contest, presented by Rural Health Education and Services.

Photos submitted should depict Kansas as a great place to live, work, and play. Winning photos will be published and prizes will be awarded.

Photographs are due by September 19, 2011.

For more information, contest rules, and entry forms please go to http://ruralhealth.kumc.edu/photocontest/index_info.html

First class of Wichita pharmacy students begins training Monday

The KU School of Pharmacy-Wichita will begin training its inaugural class of 20 students on Monday.

The pharmacy school is located on the campus of the KU School of Medicine—Wichita, 1010 N. Kansas.

The school expects to accept 20 new students each year through 2014. After that, it could see class sizes increase to as many as 40 students a year, pharmacy school officials said.

Nine of the first students are from Wichita. The others are from Andover, Altamont, Assaria, Cimarron, Derby, Ellsworth, Great Bend, Haven, Manhattan, Minneapolis and Olathe.

"Pharmacy practitioners are often the first points of contact, and in some instances, the only health care professionals accessible in our state's rural counties," KU School of Pharmacy Dean Ken Audus said in a news release. "As the only school of pharmacy in Kansas, it's our obligation to address that need quickly and with purpose. The new facilities in Wichita represent a big step in that direction."

BY JERRY SIEBENMARK
The Wichita Eagle
http://www.kansas.com/2011/08/19/1980276/first-class-of-wichita-pharmacy.html

New Kansas Connections is Available Online

The Summer 2011 publication of Kansas Connections is now available.

Article Highlights include:

• Southeast Kansas Responds to Joplin Tornado


• Cancer Survivorship Study
  


• Pilot Program Selects Eight Rural Kansas Practices


• KansasWorks Health care Workforce Partnership
  


• Google Provides Rural Health Opportunities
  


• Rural Health Care Provider Spotlight – Dr. Dennis Kepka


• Labette Health Expands Wound Care Services

All issues of Kansas Connections are available online in an easy-to-view format at www.ruralhealth.kumc.edu.

Kansas Recruitment Center Announces Placement - Physician joins Associates in Family Care in McPherson

Andrea Herrera, MD, joined Associates in Family Care, LLC, a clinic in McPherson in August.

“I lived in McPherson for several years while attending McPherson College and really enjoyed it here. I’m looking forward to connecting with old friends and making new ones,” said Herrera.

Dr. Herrera indicated that she will be joining two established partners who have made her feel very welcome in their clinic. Dr. Herrera has special interests in sports medicine, women’s health, pediatrics and disease prevention.

“I am very thrilled to have Dr. Herrera joining our practice,” said Dr. Brian Billings of Associates in Family Care. “She is Board Certified in Family Medicine and will be taking care of patients in all phases of their lives.”

In her hometown of Hesston, Kan., Herrera received an Associates of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from Hesston College in 1997. She completed a Bachelor of Science in Biology degree from McPherson College, graduating cum laude in 2000. In 2005 she completed her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita. Dr. Herrera completed her residency at the University of Texas Health Center in Tyler, Tex. in 2008.

Herrera and Associates in Family Care, LLC were matched through the Kansas Recruitment Center (KRC). The KRC, which provides placement assistance to rural health organizations, seeks to enhance the quality and quantity of health care professionals in rural Kansas by helping providers like Herrera find a practice in Kansas. The KRC is a not-for-profit program of Rural Health Education and Services at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Further information is available at ruralhealth.kumc.edu or by phone at 888-503-4221.

University of Kansas tops best universities to work for

WICHITA — Usually college rankings are all about how good a school is for students.

Glassdoor.com, which examines careers and companies, has a new study that will be published on its site Friday that takes a look at what colleges are like for the people who work there.

The University of Kansas is the No. 1 best place to work in the ranking of more than 100 large schools nationally.

H. David Wilson, dean of the KU School of Medicine-Wichita, isn’t surprised.

“I can tell you the people that work here are really a happy bunch,” he says. “We come to work because of the camaraderie, because of the support of the university and because of the mission.”

He says there is minimal turnover.

“People know that they could probably make more money working somewhere else,” Wilson says.

There are intangibles that trump dollars, though.

“People feel like we’re doing something important.”

By Carrie Rengers - http://blogs.kansas.com/haveyouheard/author/crengers/

Dr. Terri Cusick and the Wichita Center for Graduate Medical Education among Wichita's Health Care Heroes

Congratulations to Dr. Terri Cusick, KU School of Medicine-Wichita/Wichita Surgical Specialists PA and to the Wichita Center for Graduate Medical Education for being chosen as two of Wichita’s 2011 Health Care Heroes. Health Care Heroes honors companies, individuals and organizations for their contributions to improving health care in Wichita and the surrounding area. This year's honorees will be recognized at an event Sept. 22 and will be profiled in a special edition of the Wichita Business Journal on Sept. 23. Read more at Health Care Heroes - Wichita Business Journal