Photos by Susie Rostad Photography
Lila Lohmiller has always felt at home in a small town.
“I love knowing my neighbors, saying hi to friends in public,” she says. “It’s the best.”
A third-year student at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Lohmiller had a feeling her love of small-town living would lead to a career in rural medicine. That’s why she enrolled in the Medical School’s Rural Physician Associate Program, or RPAP.
Created in 1971, RPAP trains the next generation of primary care physicians who will practice in towns across rural Minnesota. Today, the program has more than 1,600 alumni and is a significant contributor to the Medical School having trained 70% of the state’s physicians.
RPAP allows students like Lohmiller and Jake Schimek to experience the entire spectrum of community healthcare — from emergency medicine and surgery to pediatrics, women’s health, orthopedics and more — over a nine-month period.
Lohmiller and Schimek are integrated into the medical team at Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, seeing patients in the clinic, hospital, emergency room and community. Every day is different, Lohmiller says, but being able to see the same patients over the course of weeks and months is a uniquely gratifying experience.
“I truly feel like I’m a part of our patients’ team,” she says. “These relationships are so special.”
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