Medical students learn in Libby

Caroline Pihl first learned of Libby six years ago while working on a public health project with former Sen. Max Baucus.  

Pihl, a 27-year old medical student, just finished her fourth visit to Libby as a part of the Targeted Rural Underserved Track medical program.  

The program is aimed at training medical students who wish to have a career working in rural and other underserved areas. The Montana branch of the program aims to bring students back to the state to work as medical professionals.

TRUST is run through the WWAMI Medical Education Program. WWAMI stands for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

WWAMI is a cooperative program of the University of Washington School of Medicine, which gives students from the Northwest access to a cost-effective medical education by decentralizing the education process.  

All students involved in WWAMI pay in-state tuition at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

“I think the most beneficial part of my first year of medical school has been TRUST,” Pihl, who graduated from Harvard University for her undergrad, said. “It helps the science I learned become practical and real.”

Montana students involved in WWAMI study at Montana State University for their first year of medical school. In their second year, students study at the University of Washington campus in Seattle. Students then study on a set of rotations in order to become more familiar with different types of medicine.  

Students shadow medical professionals in specialties such as surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and psychiatry.  

“It is a phenomenal way to learn medicine,” Pihl said.

Of the thirty MSU students participating in WWAMI, 10 are involved with the TRUST program.

As a member of the TRUST program, students are matched with a rural Montana town for four years of medical school. Before their first year, students spend two weeks in their selected town. During their first year, medical students return for two weekends — one in the fall and one in the spring — spending Friday through Sunday shadowing a doctor.

After students’ first year, they spend one month in their selected town. The last visit to a student’s town is in the third year, where they spend six months working in a clinic.

Pihl said she wants to work in a rural town because she doesn’t want to be just one of countless providers in a city.

“I think that there is something really unique to being part of your community and one of the health care providers,” Pihl said. “I’ve seen patients that I remember seeing six or eight months ago. I wasn’t expecting to run into them again.”

Students involved in TRUST receive a small stipend for living expenses, but receive no other financial benefit. The program is completely additional to WWAMI.

At the moment, there are two students from the TRUST program in town: Pihl, who recently completed her one-month stay, and Rob Brenteson, who is beginning a two-week visit.

Brenteson, a 22-year-old from Conrad, is entering his first year of medical school in the WWAMI program after graduating from Carroll College.

Brenteson said he was surprised with the size of the hospital and number of caregivers on staff at the Libby Clinic. He has already been on several ambulance calls and has been shadowing physicians in several departments.

“With the TRUST program we get exposure right away,” Brenteson said. “It helps with the learning process and helps you know what you are working towards and what it is going to be like when you get there.”