By Wendy Brunner

The effects of the May 22, 2011, tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, can still be felt and seen in the community almost 14 years later. One of the positive outcomes is Kansas City University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, which was built on the site of the former St. John’s Regional Medical Center mobile hospital that was constructed after St. John’s took a direct hit from the tornado.

Dr. Ken Heiles, dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, says, “Once the mobile hospital was no longer needed, St. John’s donated the building and 47 acres of land to KCU for the development of the medical school. A lot of areas in the school are remnants of that building, although we’ve done a lot of remodeling and adding to it for our needs.

”The KCU-Joplin campus opened in 2017 with a class of 162 students. “We’ve graduated four classes since that time,” Dr. Heiles continues. “Over those four years, we’re averaging close to a 99% placement rate into residencies of all the students, and roughly 50% of the students go into primary care.

”Dr. Heiles says about 35% of the total residency population at Freeman Health System in Joplin is KCU graduates, and that number is increasing every year. Mercy-Joplin doesn’t have a residency program at this time.As with the neighboring KCU College of Dental Medicine, the goal is to recruit students from the Four-State Area in hopes of keeping them in the area to practice medicine or dentistry, especially in rural or underserved areas.

“Rural areas in all parts of the country have issues with keeping doctors,” says Chair of Primary Care Dr. John Paulson. “We recruit students to attend this medical school because it’s where they grew up or in an area that’s similar to where they grew up, and studies show they’re more likely to stay once they’ve finished medical school.

”KCU-Joplin currently has a partnership with Missouri Southern State University where eligible students are pre-admitted to KCU, with the first class of those students graduating in 2024. A new partnership with Pittsburg State University starts this year with 25 students going through a rigorous track at PSU and are guaranteed an interview with KCU. KCU is also in the developing stages of partnering with smaller community colleges in the area as a pipeline to funnel interested rural students toward KCU.Students at KCU-Joplin do community service work to help improve the well-being of the communities they serve, which is the university’s mission. Dr. Paulson says, “One of the opportunities our clinical department has is with the Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri. We entered a partnership with them seven years ago, and it’s a way to help this volunteer-run organization and also gives our students an opportunity to practice their skills”

Dr. Paulson says every one of the second-year students has an opportunity to go to the Community Clinic to work under one of the KCU faculty members to provide care to underserved populations. Other partnerships similar to the one with the Community Clinic are with Access Family Care and Watered Gardens, a Joplin homeless shelter, to do screenings for medical care. Score 1 for Health is a KCU-specific community health program that provides free, in-school health screenings for elementary-age children, especially those from low-income families. The program serves more than 30 schools across four districts in Kansas City and Joplin, screening over 11,000 students annually.

Each child receives screenings for vision, dental, blood pressure, height and weight, and physical health. Children identified with health issues are rescreened by registered nurses and connected to necessary medical resources. Cortland Brown is from Texas and a second-year student at KCU-Joplin and sees Score 1 as “a great opportunity for students to practice these skills and put the skills to work on real patients.

“We see a range of kids grades K-5, and it’s work at first to get some of the more shy kids to open up, but once they do, it’s a great opportunity for the medical students and the kids. I try to get them to laugh and joke. If I’m pushing on their belly, I might tell them I’m trying to feel what they had for lunch to relax them. And if we see something abnormal, we have oversight from faculty members who will then take over with the patient if needed.”

“We see all these partnerships as a way to give back to the community because the community invested in us and we feel a responsibility to pay it forward,” says Dr. Paulson.Students at KCU-Joplin spend the first two years in class on campus, the third year doing rotations at a required location and the fourth year doing rotations at their preferred location.

“That’s an advantage of students doing their core rotations in their third year here,” says Dr. Heiles. “They develop a rapport with the physicians from seeing them every day, and that’s actually where the students’ recruitment starts.

”Students can do “designated rotations from Palm Springs, California, to Palm Beach, Florida, and many points in between,” continues Dr. Heiles. “However, two-thirds of the KCU-Joplin students do their rotations at the two Joplin hospitals and the hospital in Pittsburg.”

Cortland says students know what a responsibility and privilege it is to be a KCU-Joplin student. “From the moment we arrived on campus, we were told how much the new medical school means to the community. We know the community trusts the faculty and the students. It’s a joy knowing the impact we’re able to have.”February 2025 • showmetheozarks.com • 47