New Director Empowers Montana's NHSC SEARCH Program

Paula Clifford began her administration of the Montana Student/Resident Experiences and Rotations in Community Health (SEARCH) program by traveling to most of the clinics and hospitals that provide primary care in Montana. “I was impressed with how modern so many of the facilities were, despite limited funding,” she says, “as well as with the great distances between them and the nearest major medical center.”

Montana’s SEARCH program* has been active since 1994. The program attracts students from every corner of the country who are interested in working with underserved rural and Native American populations. During their stays, participants are expected to complete a results-oriented project report. These reports form a knowledge database accessible to future students and preceptors for building subsequent and related projects that ultimately improve the health of the state.

Observes Clifford, “For those who are particularly interested in working with diverse cultures in places of breathtaking beauty, a month in Montana is the best way to help them decide to spend a lifetime here.”

In addition to her comprehensive tour of Montana’s facilities, Clifford has contacted every family practitioner, family nurse practitioner, and physician assistant in Montana seeking details that will help her match students with their ideal working environments.

“If you build it, they will come,” Clifford says. In this case, if she builds relationships between visionary students and like-minded mentors, then eventually Montana will become stronger, healthier, and better able to meet the health challenges of the future.

* Detailed information on the program and the process is available at: http://www.dphhs.state.mt.us/hpsd/pubheal/healplan/primcare/search.htm.

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