Missouri to train health professionals in more rural areas

By Elliot Njus

Published March 14, 2008

A donation from a Missouri-based physical rehabilitation company will fund a partnership between MU and five community colleges to train health professionals in rural areas, where it’s hard to recruit.

The Clayton, Mo., company RehabCare Group Inc. donated $1.33 million to the School of Health Professions to fund “The Modern Workforce Initiative,” a distance learning program to train students in their hometowns.

RehabCare CEO John Short announced the donation last week.Short said his company serves as many as 22,000 patients every day, but they have the demand to serve 30,000 if they had enough staff.

“Every day, we have to figure out, how do we do stretch in order to serve more patients who want our care in all those locales?” Short said.

He said School of Health Professions Dean Richard Oliver approached him four years ago to propose the program.

MU Chancellor Brady Deaton said MU has a responsibility as the state’s flagship university to help meet the need for trained health professionals.

“The demand for allied health professionals is growing at twice the rate of other professions,” Deaton said. “It’s truly astounding. Our population is aging, and experts predict that we’ll need up to 2.5 million new health care workers just 12 years from now, so the pressure is on us to produce.”

But, Deaton said, MU’s School of Health Professions is filled and turns down hundreds of prospective students each year.

The answer, Oliver said, is a training program coordinated by the school that teaches students in their community colleges.

The School of Health Professions will partner with North Central College, State Fair Community College, East Central College, Three Rivers Community College and Moberly Area Community College. James Kellerman, Missouri Community College Association executive director, said other MU community colleges had expressed interest in joining the program.

Short said RehabCare would also help provide on-the-job training for the program’s students. The company has branches and offices across the state.

“For the students, I think this is a wonderful opportunity, and you don’t even have to leave home,” he said.