NY Times: 47,000 is a “small town”

The headline: Small-Town Doctors Made in a Small Kansas Town

Yes, rural areas of this country desperately need doctors. But where are they going?

SALINA, Kan. — This state, so sparsely populated in parts that five counties have no doctors at all, has struggled for years to encourage young doctors to relocate to rural communities, where health problems are often exacerbated by a lack of even the most basic care.

On Friday, a new medical school campus opened here to provide a novel solution to the persistent problem: an inaugural class of eight aspiring doctors who will receive all their training in exactly the kind of small community where officials hope they will remain to practice medicine.

…and stop right there.

Salina, with a 2010 population of 47,707, is the tenth-largest city in Kansas, and sixth-largest outside of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The Census Bureau classifies it as the center of a micropolitan area.

Small for a medical school, I wouldn’t disagree. But it’s NOT a small town. This small insight into terminology could go a long way in explaining the rural-urban chasm that exists in this country.

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