Official touts SUNY med school guarantee
POTSDAM — SUNY Upstate Medical University is giving pre-med students at three St. Lawrence County colleges a guarantee.
If St. Lawrence University, SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University students maintain a high honors-level grade-point average and achieve high SAT scores, they're guaranteed admission to the Syracuse medical school. And they don't have to take the Medical College Admission Test to get in.
"That can really take some of the pressure off them," said Dr. David R. Smith, SUNY Upstate Medical University president.
Dr. Smith spoke at a meeting of officials from the state's eight Area Health Education Centers, organizations working to remedy the state's health care work force shortage, Thursday at Clarkson University.
Thousand Islands High School senior Marc A. Delaney, Clayton, son of Maryann L. and Patrick J. Delaney, is living proof of that guarantee. He is the first north country high school student to be granted joint admission to St. Lawrence University, Canton, and SUNY Upstate Medical University.
He credits the Northern Area Health Education Center, Canton, with starting him on the medical school path. Mr. Delaney said he participated in the organization's "My Health Career" program, which builds high school students' interest in health care jobs. The program helped land him an internship in the emergency room at Samaritan Medical Center, Watertown.
"Right now I'm interested in cardiology or family practice," he said. "Because I went in the emergency room, and they don't see patients for very long — a lot of them end up getting shipped somewhere else — I realized I wanted more patient contact. I wanted to get to know my patients."
Richard K. Merchant, NAHEC executive director, said the organization's strategy is to "grow our own" health care professionals. Dr. Smith said an integral part of that strategy is to get youths interested in health care.
"Data shows that if we do nothing, the likelihood of people coming to our county (for health care jobs) is 3 to 4 percent. If you look to junior high, and you can keep them through high school, your likelihood kicks up to over 50 percent," he said. "If they can do their second- or third-year residency in Watertown or Potsdam, they're more likely to stay here."
Dr. Smith said while the university has made progress, there is work ahead for the north country to cultivate and keep local medical professionals.
"Eventually it would not be incomprehensible to have three regional campuses," he said. "We're talking full-service campuses with new degree programs that are relevant; for instance, a nurse practitioner program in psychiatric health, which would be especially relevant given all the troops that are returning to Fort Drum from Iraq."
He told AHEC officials there is a good reason to remain vigilant in health care recruitment.
"You're all going to be a patient," he said. "Make it personal. We're all at some point going to be relying on the system."
