Students to return home to practice

Naicie Roper and Jared Mitchell will soon be the kind of physicians Georgia and the country is trying to create. Both plan to return home to relatively rural areas of Georgia to practice.

They will become Dr. Roper and Dr. Mitchell today during Medical College of Georgia's graduation ceremony and then will head off to residencies -- she to become an obstetrician/gynecologist and he to become a general surgeon. Both had dreamed of becoming physicians since they were young.

"Ever since I was a kid, I remember telling my parents I wanted to be a doctor," said Mr. Mitchell, a native of Thomson.

Ms. Roper's old friends from Effingham County High School are "always amazed that even so far back I was talking about being an ob/gyn," she said. "And here I am!"

It has not been an easy road for her. She was raised by a single mother, Carlethia Roper, who often worked 12-hour overnight shifts as a dispatcher or corrections officer while other relatives watched the children.

"When I was home, I was trying to be mom and get some rest at the same time," Carlethia Roper said. "It was difficult for a minute, but through prayer it all worked out. That's how I make it, through prayer and faith."

And she set high standards for her daughter.

"A B-plus wasn't good enough," Naicie Roper said. "There had to be A's. She was always reminding me of what I was capable of. And here I am."

Mr. Mitchell also got a strong push into medicine as he watched his mother battle a brain tumor for two years before she finally succumbed to it.

"I got to see how those doctors were able to actually prolong her life," he said.

Both the soon-to-be Dr. Roper and Dr. Mitchell feel a need to return to their roots to practice.

"I think that there I can do the most good. I think I'm more needed there in a small town as opposed to the larger towns," he said.

For Naicie Roper, it also means a chance to serve as a role model.

"I really feel like it's my duty to then provide an example for those who come after me," she said. "Because so many times kids grow up without a positive example or without hope or just any encouragement to do anything."

Georgia tries to help encourage young doctors like them to practice in the state through a scholarship program and a loan repayment program if the physician agrees to practice in a county of 35,000 or fewer people, said Cherri Tucker, executive director of the Georgia Board for Physician Workforce and the State Medical Education Board.

Both programs are taking a hit in the upcoming fiscal year -- a $25,000 cut to the loan-repayment program and a $60,000 cut that will eliminate three scholarships, she said.

"We hated to see that," Mrs. Tucker said.

Good news may come through the federal government, however.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 nearly doubles or triples the amount going into the National Health Service Corps, which helps recruit physicians to work in underserved rural and urban areas through scholarships and loan-repayment programs, said Matthew Shick, senior legislative analyst for the Association of American Medical Colleges.

"It's a significant investment in the corps," Mr. Shick said. About 4,000 are in the program nationwide now, and the new money would allow another 4,000 to be added, essentially doubling its strength, Mr. Shick said.

The return of new physicians to rural communities can mean more than just good health care. Naicie Roper's plans to return to her rural home show that, her mother said.

"I'm really glad she's thinking that way because so many get there and then venture off and never come back," Carlethia Roper said. "It would help a lot of people focus and see that they can be whatever they want to be if they just concentrate, focus on it and do it. She would definitely be a good role model."

Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.