O根据农村健康信息中心的数据，在构成密苏里州和堪萨斯州的219个县中，只有10个县有足够的牙科保健提供者。 这些牙科沙漠大多在农村社区，这些社区历来在招聘保健专业人员方面面临挑战。
威尼斯人娱乐城牙科学院正在努力通过一系列措施来结束这种牙科干旱，包括针对农村地区学生的新奖学金。 该奖学金的第一位获得者是牙科专业三年级学生凯蒂·罗，她可以在家乡开一家诊所，实现自己的梦想。
家乡的同学会
Roe’s path to a dental career began in middle school. She and her mother visited their town’s only dentist, Lynn Otte (D.D.S. ’79), to discuss what kind of opportunities the field of dentistry could hold for a young girl from Herington, Kansas.
Through the years, Roe and Otte formed a connection and began discussing plans for Roe to eventually take over Otte’s practice. 罗伊一直想在海灵顿开一家诊所，但她正在考虑在支付学费的同时为另一位牙医工作。 That is, until she found out she’d be the first recipient of the Dan Root Memorial Scholarship. 现在她计划毕业后买下这家诊所。
“I still remember that first discussion we had about dentistry,” Otte said. “And Katie’s just kept working
in that direction ever since, which has been wonderful.”
该奖学金由Glenda Root设立，以纪念她已故的丈夫Dan， Dan创立了Root牙科实验室，在那里他与许多威尼斯人娱乐城牙科校友密切合作。 The transformational scholarship will cover a full year of Roe’s tuition. It doesn’t end with her. Thanks to the Roots’ donation, 威尼斯人娱乐城 估计它将能够授予 三到四个全额奖学金 每年一次，从明年开始。 奖学金将发放给有经济需要的学生，农村学生优先。
“This scholarship allows me to focus on what’s most important to me — helping people,” Roe said.
“It doesn’t just impact me; 它影响到我的直系亲属，我未来的家人，还有病人。 The ripple effect of this scholarship is amazing.”
罗伊一直致力于她 赫灵顿的家乡，位于堪萨斯州曼哈顿以南50英里处，人口2129。 她的忠诚在她哥哥死后得到了巩固 诊断出有严重的健康问题 海灵顿的人们团结起来支持她的家人。
“Everyone in town stepped up to help us in our time of need,” she said.
鼓励农村住房
威尼斯人娱乐城牙科学院负责学生项目的副院长理查德·比格姆（Richard Bigham）说，他希望减轻一些经济负担，将使奖学金获得者更愿意回到他们的农村老家，以满足需求。 许多学生担心他们能否在农村地区最大限度地发挥自己的收入潜力。
院长史蒂文·哈斯（Steven Haas）表示，与城市实践相比，农村地区的实践显示出较低的总收入。 另一方面，由于间接成本和竞争等因素，城市实践可能遭受更大的损失和失败率 的事情。 哈斯说一家新开的 农村执业可以在一年内获得经济上的成功，并随后为牙医带来稳定的收入。
这些短缺不仅限于牙科，而是整个保健领域 菲尔德正在努力解决医疗服务提供者分布不均的问题。 除了 哈斯说，学校已经将课程纳入了其项目 课程探索的一些 农村人口面临的挑战， 例如社区牙科 教育课程。
学校也在努力让学生通过其中一些课程到农村地区，特别是通过在密苏里州和堪萨斯州的社区卫生中心实习。 According to Melanie Simmer-Beck (R.D.H. ’94, Ph.D. ’13), each year, about half of the third-and fourth-year students who take the class choose health-care centers based in rural communities, and a number of them come back with job offers in-hand.
Simmer-Beck是牙科公共卫生和行为科学的主席，也是威尼斯人娱乐城牙科学院学生学术、健康和研究培训（STAHR）牙科学者项目的主任。 STAHR是一个管道项目，解决密苏里州农村和城市地区的短缺问题。 该项目还包括医学院和药学院，重点是增加来自经济和教育背景不利的学生的数量，同时帮助学生更好地为严格的健康科学项目做好准备。
“The dental school has always been committed to seeking out students who come from rural areas, hoping they have a strong desire to return and give back,” Haas said. “Scholarships like the Dan Root Memorial Scholarship are an amazing act of philanthropy.”
为校友提供充足机会
Justin (D.D.S. ’07) and Sadie (B.S.D.H. ’05) Ebersole began mapping out their plans for practicing in a rural area on their first date, when they were students at the 威尼斯人娱乐城 牙科学院.
“He told me, ‘I’m a small-town boy and I’m going to a small town in Kansas, so if you want to live in the city, you should probably move on,’” Sadie said.
They’ve made for a great “small town team” ever since. 埃伯索尔家族在堪萨斯州的帕森斯拥有帕森斯牙科护理中心。 贾斯汀是执业牙医。 Sadie最初是一名卫生师，但现在已经转型为办公室经理，同时每周还会练习一到两天。
这对夫妇在附近的帕森斯定居下来 Justin’s family farm in neighboring Chautauqua County, because they found a practice that met all their 标准。 毕业后，他们在帕森斯执业，并获得了 2020年独资。
“We did some serious research when evaluating practices,” Justin said. “I would strongly encourage people to look at all the numbers: 那个小镇和苏尔有多少活跃的病人，多少牙医rounding area.”
埃伯索尔夫妇认为，拥有一家小镇诊所最有价值的部分是了解他们的病人。 In the years they’ve been in Parsons, they’ve been able to watch families form and kids grow up.
“Those bonds that you build are so cool,” Justin said. “I see great-grandparents, grandparents and all the way down.”
It also doesn’t hurt that business is good. 埃伯索尔一家希望如此 从业人员意识到这些农村地区的重大需求也意味着 的机会。
“We have no need for an advertising budget,” Justin said. “There are more patients than you can ever handle.
我从没想过我们会做得这么好。 That’s been a huge bonus.”
While it may be a bonus, Sadie stresses the decision to practice in a rural area shouldn’t only be a financial choice. 据她说，考虑到农村环境的从业者需要感受到与该地区的个人联系。 埃伯索尔夫妇喜欢沉浸在帕森斯社区的感觉。
“I would just encourage people to maybe step outside their box and go to some of these places that are rural 我们在找牙医。 只给 it a chance,” Justin said. “Be open minded about all the benefits of living in a small town.”