Illinois Rural Health Experience (RHE) Program

Beth Squires
815.395.5854
esquires@uic.edu

The Rural Health Experience (RHE) Program is a field experience for health professions students in Illinois to observe rural healthcare providers and their communities.

Objectives:

• Learn about the social and health characteristics, needs, and resources of a specific rural Illinois community
• Understand the roles and responsibilities of different healthcare providers in a rural community
• Reflect on a future career as a healthcare provider in a rural community and potential interest in this location as a future career location

Program expectations:

• Shadowing experiences in multiple hospital departments including but not limited to EMT/ER, medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, social work and behavioral health, public health, and laboratory and technical specialists
• Shadowing experiences within the local community at clinics and/or health departments
• Meetings with administration and observations of inter-professional team meetings, when available
• The experience is scheduled between 3 – 5 days.

Eligible applicants are students of all health disciplines in Illinois. Students must have completed sophomore year of undergraduate studies by the start of the program.

Preference goes to students from rural Illinois communities with interest in serving a rural community in the future.

This is an educational experience.

If possible, students will be matched with a site within commuting distance. Transportation is not provided. Sites may not provide meals and/or housing.

A link to the online application is available on the program website.