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Taking part in the Rural Health School at PAHCS this fall are: (from left) Jessica DeRose, Jason Meyer, Jennifer Lund, and Jennifer Steinhaus.

On Tuesdays for the next 12 weeks, an interdisciplinary group of four medical students will be learning about rural health care in the Paynesville area. The four students - studying pharmacology, occupational therapy, social work, and to be a physician's assistant - will tour Paynesville, learn about the operation at PAHCS, visit a farm and a factory in the area, and engage in case studies using expertise from their various disciplines.

"I'm from a smaller town, and it seemed to me that a majority of my rotations were in the Twin Cities," said Jennifer Lund, a Pharm.D. student at the University of Minnesota who originally hails from Roseau. "So it's an opportunity to work in a rural setting."

"I just took it on because I thought it would be interesting and a good opportunity to work in a rural community and to be part of this team," added Jason Meyer, a master's of social work student.

Leading this session of the Rural Health School at PAHCS will be Pharm.D.s Laura Odell and Todd Lemke, with the help of the Pharm.D. resident Beth Kadlec.

PAHCS is one of five sites for the University of Minnesota's Rural Health School this fall. The others are in Hibbing, Moose Lake, Staples, and Willmar.

"I've heard so many wonderful things about PAHCS," said Jennifer Steinhaus, an occupational therapist from Litchfield. "What a great learning opportunity for me."

Patients may see these students during upcoming visits to PAHCS as three of the four will be doing study rotations as well as participating in the Rural Health School. The participants also will complete a community project on some health care issue in this area.

•Jessica DeRose is a physician's assistant student at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. DeRose is from Richmond and her parents own a resort on the Horseshoe Chain of Lakes.

She is in the second half of the 27-month program at Augsburg and will graduate next April.

She will be at PAHCS from October to April and will be completing five rotations under various mentors. She will get experience in internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, family medicine, pediatrics, and emergency medicine. Right now she is working with Dr. Randy Nelson on her internal medicine rotation.

DeRose already completed three rotations in the Twin Cities. She also will need to do a three-month preceptorship, possibly at PAHCS, before graduation.

•Jennifer Lund is a Pharm.D. student at the University of Minnesota who will be at PAHCS from October to December. Pharm.D.s monitor medications, their benefits, and effects on patients. She will be working with patients at PAHCS under the supervision of Odell and Lemke.

Lund, a native of Roseau, completed her undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. She will graduate as a doctor of pharmacy in May 2002.

•Jennifer Steinhaus already has graduated with a master's degree in occupational therapy from St. Scholastica in Duluth.

She will work in the rehabilitation department at PAHCS from September to December. She will focus on physical disabilities with clinic patients, with nursing home residents, and with home health patients.

Steinhaus, a native of Litchfield, already has completed a six-month stint focusing on mental health at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in St. Cloud.

•Jason (Jay) Meyer is working on a master's of social work at Augsburg College. He will graduate next spring.

Meyer will be at PAHCS on Tuesdays, but will not be here other than that. The Alexandria native is doing an internship with the St. Cloud Children's Home the rest of the week.