'Backyard neighbors' deliver care to rural communities

A partnership between two “backyard neighbors” is helping fill critical healthcare gaps in rural northern Michigan. Central Michigan University and MyMichigan Health collaborate to provide future healthcare professionals with the hands-on experience and training they need to serve communities statewide, especially in historically underserved areas.

MyMichigan Health serves people across the northern Lower Peninsula. Physician assistants, who deliver a wide range of services under the supervision of a doctor, play a valuable role. Training those professionals is critical to ensure that northern Michigan communities get the healthcare they need.

CMU is one of MyMichigan Health’s valuable educational partners. It provides them with students whose classroom training sets them up well to get practical experience with MyMichigan Health providers all over Michigan and across specialties. 

The rigorous education in the physician assistant program at CMU sets them up well for success in clinical settings.

“We love our CMU students here,” said Dr. Michael Hollis, a surgeon at MyMichigan Medical Center West Branch. One student who impressed Dr. Hollis was PA student Brenna Westhoff.

Westhoff was confident, engaged and proactive in seeking learning opportunities. She talked with patients and asked why certain procedures were scheduled. Questions like those help new providers develop a deep understanding of their roles, Hollis said.

West Branch was one of Westhoff’s eight physician assistant rotations required for her eventual graduation. She also recently completed a pediatric rotation at MyMichigan Medical Center Mt. Pleasant but said the surgery unit at MyMichigan’s Medical Center in West Branch remains her favorite experience.

The West Branch team sparked her excitement for her career after graduation. She plans to pursue a role in a surgery unit.

“The team was very welcoming,” Westhoff said. “I felt like part of the family.”

Neighbors with a common cause

MyMichigan and CMU aren’t quite family, but they are neighbors. With CMU’s main campus in Mount Pleasant and MyMichigan Health headquartered in Midland, they share a common interest in this area.

“That’s our backyard,” said Amanda Scarbrough, senior coordinator for clinical placements in the physician assistant program. She was referring not just to the close geographic proximity, but also the mission the two share.

Both seek to deliver quality healthcare to underserved rural populations, and both have responsibilities to train highly skilled providers, she said. 

CMU’s physician assistant students are required to do eight rotations in a hands-on setting before graduating. Finding spots for them, especially when a student’s needs suddenly change, requires flexibility, Scarbrough said.

Scarbrough said her MyMichigan Health counterpart, Brandi Borchardt, bends over backwards to place CMU students. She said students occasionally need last-minute accommodations and Borchardt always seems to find a way to help.

CMU students are worth working hard for, said Borchardt, an academic affairs specialist at MyMichigan. She said she hears great things about CMU’s PA students from MyMichigan Health providers, including that they are great at communicating before the rotation starts and are active learners on the job.

That actually starts with how MyMichigan Health treats CMU’s PA students, said Kate Flannery, director of CMU’s physician assistant program.

“They do a great job placing our students,” she said. “And do a great job teaching. They really want out students to succeed. Our students rate those rotations really highly.”

Great training, great career

Westhoff plans to start what she called her dream job as a physician assistant in a thoracic, robotic, and general surgery unit soon. She graduated from CMU in early August and received her physician assistant license in early September.

CMU and MyMichigan Health helped Westhoff make her dream become a reality.

“Through it all, the CMU PA program faculty was there for me every step of the way,” she said. “Our professors would send emails and/or texts to check in and see how I was doing, always reminding us at callbacks that we deserve to be in the program, and all our hard work has gotten us to this point.”

It was MyMichigan Health’s staff who helped her hard work turn into a passion.

“The amazing team consisting of Laura Scott PA-C, Dr. Shepich and Dr. Hollis; collectively they helped me find my passion in surgery,” she said. “I was able to gain valuable experiences and was made to feel comfortable in the OR which is what made me want to go into surgery.”