Western New Mexico University hosted the New Mexico Legislative Health and Human Services Committee in J. Cloyd Miller Library, September 23-25.
While on campus, the committee heard from health care leaders, including a presentation about expanding the rural health care workforce by WNMU Associate Dean of Nursing and Kinesiology Kim Petrovic and Director of Health Care Workforce Programs Victor Stephen Gonzales, Jr.
In addition to hearing presentations on topics ranging from social safety-net programs to psilocybin, the committee also opened the floor to public comment.
The committee was welcomed to campus by WNMU President Joseph Shepard who spoke about the importance of strengthening the health care workforce in New Mexico. “I know we have our differences at times,” he said, “but I think one thing that we don’t have a difference on is the desire for excellent health care. … Health care is critical.”
The state is facing a looming crisis due to the shortage of health care providers, said Shepard. “When you take a look at a small community like Silver City or Deming or any of our areas that have rural hospitals, they are particularly vulnerable,” he said. “Albuquerque and other metropolitan area also have a crisis, but getting people to come to rural areas is difficult.”
Shepard also spoke about what WNMU is doing to expand training in telemedicine. Emphasizing that New Mexico is the fifth largest state geographically with a widely scattered population, he said that telemedicine is “probably the only thing that will save us in terms of the crisis that we think is approaching.”
WNMU is developing an educational curriculum to provide the necessary skills for telemedicine, said Shepard.
He asked the committee to do three things to help avert the crisis in health care: support telemedicine and the programs that are training health care workers to use it effectively, support programs that will attract health professionals to rural areas, and support New Mexico’s colleges and universities more broadly.
The chair of the committee, Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, thanked Shepard for his presentation and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to meet in Silver City. “It is always great to come to Western New Mexico University,” said Ortiz y Pino. “The campus is gorgeous, the hospitality is ferocious, and the food is excellent.”
[Cutline: WNMU President Joseph Shepard speaks to the NM Legislative Health and Human Services Committee, Sept. 24, 2024.]