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Officials: RMCH on track to become teaching hospital

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Las Cruces-based Burrell College to partner with RMCH

Members of Gallup’s business community recently got together over dinner to share in an announcement by the Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital about RMCH taking a path to become a regional teaching unit.

The meeting was held at RMCH’s third-floor solarium May 24, and included people from the hospital’s board of directors, as well as officials from Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine. Burrell is a newly created medical institution and is based in Las Cruces. RMCH and Burrell are engaged in the teaching partnership.

“It’s definitely a positive step for the hospital,” David Dallago, president of the board of directors at RMCH, told the 70 or so invited guests. “This represents progress.”

Burrell, whose academic focus is strictly medicine, will welcome 162 students in August. The school is not a part of the New Mexico State University, but works closely with NMSU, Justin McHorse, assistant dean of multicultural affairs, said.

McHorse, who handles marketing and communications for the school, explained that after two years at Burrell, students qualify to go to one of five hubs around the state for practical and clinical training. Those hubs are located in Gallup, Albuquerque, Las Cruces, El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona, he said. At each locale, students can receive training in such disciplines as pediatrics, radiology, family medicine, obstetrics, and gynecology.

“It’s a program that we know is going to work,” McHorse said. “We’re very pleased with the interest we have from students who want to be a part of it.”

Gallup and RMCH have in the past experienced trouble retaining doctors. One reason for this is the city’s rural location. But officials said once the program gets off and running this will no longer be an impediment.

“The spinoff effect is tremendous,” Patricia Lundstrom, executive director of the Greater Gallup Economic Development Corporation and a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives, said. “This represents progress on a lot of fronts for Gallup. It creates the kind of scenario whereby someone who comes here with the program could very well end up living and working here for a long period of time.”

Dallago, a former two-term member of the McKinley County Board of Commissioners, said the teaching idea is something Chief Executive Officer David Conejo has had in the works since he arrived at RMCH two years ago. Prior to Conejo’s arrival, RMCH suffered through yearly financial losses, but the hospital appears to have turned that corner, officials attending the meeting said.

State Representative D. Wonda Johnson, D-Church Rock, an educator, said she believes the teaching program will encourage Native Americans to get involved in the medical field. She said she doesn’t rule out scenarios wherein a Navajo person could attend Burrell and ultimately get a permanent physician job at RMCH.

“I like the idea,” Johnson said. “It’s a situation where people attending this school will receive teaching at RMCH. It has a lot of plusses and will be something good for our community.”

Dr. Oliver Hayes, the associate dean for clinical affairs at Burrell, reiterated the obvious economic impact that students would bring to the community. “This will leave a positive mark on your community for the next 50 years and beyond,” Hayes said.

By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent


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