Rural-PRIME Community Engagement Projects

The Rural-PRIME program at UC Davis aims to foster physician leaders who will focus on improving the health of California’s underserved rural populations. Community engagement forms an important pillar of this goal and provides students with the opportunity to gain leadership skills, invaluable knowledge about utilizing resources, and insight about the role of a physician in a rural setting. Through seminars and workshops, students have learned more about community engagement, advocacy, forms of rural healthcare, and Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) skills. ABCD describes the methodology that seeks to reveal and utilize strengths within communities as a means for sustainable development. In order to gain practical experience in community engagement, Rural-PRIME students have established community-focused projects.

Knights Landing One Health Student-Run Clinic

Located in a rural area of Yolo County, Knights Landing is a small farming community comprised of approximately 1000 people. When the community’s only medical clinic closed in 2008, residents had to travel many miles to obtain medical care. This was a huge barrier as public transport operated only 2 days a week, and most of the inhabitants of Knights Landing work 6 days a week on surrounding farms. With the assistance of Rural-PRIME students, a free clinic was established in February 2012 to provide basic medical services to the residents of this community. The clinic is open one day each month and is operated by students, nurses and volunteer faculty.

For additional information about this student project, please visit Knights Landing One Health Center.