KSB Hospital and our Area Health Education Center are excited to again have the opportunity to host students through the Rural Interprofessional Health Professions Summer Preceptorship program. This program, which former KSB CEO Daryl Vandervort helped to create in partnership with the University of Illinois College of Medicine, provides multidiscipline training experience for health profession students and exposes them to a variety of disciplines within the rural healthcare setting. Students are eligible to participate in this summer preceptorship program through their interest in rural healthcare and if they’re currently taking collegiate courses in medicine, physician assistant program, nursing, pharmacy, social work, public health, physical therapy, or dietetics.

This year, four students are participating in the program, and over the next six weeks they will have the chance to shadow KSB health professionals and gain a better understanding of the various roles each department plays in healthcare:

⦁ Kate Bonnell – Dixon, Illinois – Medical Intern studying at Illinois Wesleyan University
⦁ Kirsten Osborn – Galesburg, Illinois – Speech Language Pathology studying at University of Illinois
⦁ Jillian Pelikan – Wheaton, Illinois – Speech Language Pathology studying at Indiana State University
⦁ Elizabeth Lovellette – El Dorado, Illinois – Social Work studying at University of Southern Indiana

During their time at KSB, each student will spend one day a week learning about the career they are currently focused on in college. The rest of their time is spent in rotation between departments that often interact with that discipline as well as participating in didactics classes, where they are taught by Beth Squires. At the end of the six weeks, the students will team up for a Community Service Learning (CSL) Project and implement a project based on what they have learned during their rotations at KSB.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring back the program this year as we haven’t been able to host students since 2017,” commented KSB AHEC Center Director, Teresa Strum. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to be able to highlight KSB and our services, and students are excited by the time they leave with everything they have learned.”

Article written by KSB Marketing Department