The experience of loss shaped one medical student’s journey into rural medicine. After the death of her father in a farming accident, she contacted Dr. Wong in Ogallala, Nebraska, to postpone her planned shadowing assignment as part of Rocky Vista University’s rural and wilderness track. Instead, she requested to complete her family medicine clerkship rotation with him during her third year.
Her second year of medical school was marked by grief and uncertainty about her future in medicine. She said, “What words did I have for a grief so profound next to a call on my heart to push through and see it to completion?” Despite doubts about belonging in the field, she continued with hopes that clinical rotations would renew her sense of purpose.
During her first clinical rotation in child and adolescent psychiatry, she found renewed happiness connecting with young patients. She also enjoyed working in pediatrics before beginning her family medicine rotation in Ogallala for two months.
She reflected on memories with her father, who was dedicated to cattle ranching and preservation of native grasslands. Family trips often centered around bull sale barns and visits to the Nebraska Sandhills—a region he cherished. The last time they visited together was during a Hereford tour across ranches in the area.
Arriving in Ogallala for her rotation brought back these memories: “When I got to Ogallala on a Sunday afternoon, I wondered how it would feel being in a place that meant so much to my dad, one of the last places he knew I’d be experiencing in my pursuit of becoming a doctor.”
