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Cherokee Nation, OSU partner to offer health care to rural Oklahomans


Cherokee Nation, OSU partner to offer health care to rural Oklahomans  (KTUL)
Cherokee Nation, OSU partner to offer health care to rural Oklahomans (KTUL)
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A major effort is underway to attack the health care crisis in small-town Oklahoma.

Too many communities don't have a doctor, so Oklahoma State University and the Cherokee Nation are starting a medical school to meet that need.

It will be the first medical school in the nation to be affiliated with a tribe and those involved think it could become a blueprint for the entire country.

Right now, many Oklahomans don’t have a single primary care physician in their entire county.

Dr. Kayse Shrum is the President of the OSU Center for Health Sciences and she said that creates some real problems.

“People have to take time off from work and travel many, many miles and hopefully they have the transportation to do that. Just to see a doctor and have their basic health care needs met," Shrum said.

The medical school will make its home at the current W.W. Hastings Cherokee Indian Hospital in Tahlequah, following a construction project that will cover 60,000 square feet.

The Cherokee Nation had hoped to have 10 students per class, but their partnership with OSU will allow 50 with a total of 200 in the program.

Construction will begin next year with the first students arriving in 2020.

OSU President Burns Hargis said the key is teaching doctors where they are needed.

“Physicians tend to practice where they do their residency. So, if they do their residency here, or in these areas, most of them will stay," Hargis said.

Cherokee Chief Bill John Baker says the school will benefit everyone in Oklahoma and he’s glad the tribe’s health care has made great strides.

“We fixed all kinds of problem where the doctors had one exam room. Where the doctor would go wait in the hall until the nurse finished with the patient and they could take the next one,” Baker said.

A huge amount of scholarship money has already been raised for the medical students.

Donors to the OSU Foundation, along with the Cherokee and Chickasaw Nations have provided $350,000.

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