The journey to becoming a rural physician can be shaped by personal loss and the communities that support future doctors. One medical student at Rocky Vista University shared how her path was influenced by the death of her father, a cattleman from southeast Nebraska.
Initially scheduled to shadow Dr. Wong in Ogallala, Nebraska, for two weeks as part of her rural and wilderness track assignment, she had to change her plans after her father’s fatal farming accident. In an email to Dr. Wong, she explained: “I’d need my last two weeks of summer to be with my family, our cows, and my little rural Nebraska community.” She requested to complete the family medicine clerkship rotation in her third year instead.
Her second year of medical school was marked by grief and uncertainty about continuing in medicine. Despite these challenges, she remained committed in hopes that clinical rotations would help her reconnect with patients and rediscover purpose in the field. She described finding fulfillment during rotations in child and adolescent psychiatry and pediatrics before moving on to family medicine.
She spent two months in Ogallala for this rotation—a place significant both professionally and personally due to its connection with her late father’s love for the Nebraska Sandhills. Reflecting on this experience, she recalled: “His favorite place to visit were the Nebraska Sandhills; ‘pretty country’ he called it and joked that someday he’d sell our livelihood in southeast Nebraska to move west.”
Her story highlights how rural communities can provide both challenges and healing for those training in medicine.
