Rural Health Care Needs in Fairfield County Addressed By Clinic Partnership

Third year medical student Jennifer Hucks (left) discusses a patient care issue with Dr. Charles McElmurray.

Then the John A. Martin Primary Health Care Center opened up on the grounds of Fairfield Memorial Hospital in Winnsboro. Established in 1992 through a partnership between the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and Fairfield County, the center was created with a three-fold mission: to deliver services to a medically underserved area, to provide medical students with a training site outside the traditional city setting, and to conduct health care research.

The center is one of three sites managed by the School of Medicine used for introducing medical students to rural practice. McLeod Family Medicine opened up in Bennettsville in 2002 and Kershaw Family Medicine Associates became operational in Kershaw in 1999. Every third-year medical student is required to complete the Deans’ Rural Primary Care Clerkship, a four-week rotation, at one of the three centers. Students conduct histories and physicals, develop treatment plans for patients, accompany physicians on hospital rounds, and make two home visits. “It’s different talking to a patient in their own home. The students gain a better appreciation of the problems that patients have and the living conditions and the obstacles they have to work with,” said Sandy Kammermann, M.S., Ed.S., Education and Research Director at the John A. Martin Center and an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.

During the clerkship students are exposed to factors that impact health care in a rural, primarily low-income environment, including transportation problems and patients’ inability to afford medications. “The students also realize some of the cultural and religious beliefs that affect a patient’s perspective on a disease and the outcome of that disease,” explained Kammermann.

Each student also spends time on a long-term community project. In Fairfield County, the overwhelming problem of obesity is being addressed through The Right Weigh to Health, an initiative being conducted in conjunction with a number of local agencies. “The idea of the project is to help the students look beyond their practice, and if they can make the general community healthier they can make their patients healthier,” said Dr. Charles McElmurray, an associate professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and one of the center’s two physicians on staff.

During the center’s tenure in Winnsboro, the number of physicians in Fairfield County has increased, immunization rates have soared, and infant mortality has decreased. While Dr. McElmurray asserts that the School of Medicine can only take partial credit for the developments, he does think USC set the tone for positive change. “The consistency of the university and the commitment to be there for the long term has really changed the community’s perspective,” said Dr. McElmurray. He added, “It comes down to the concept that someone came in and believed in the community and helped the community believe in itself and take steps forward.”

Reprinted from Connections newsletter, April 2003

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