The Area Health Education Center (AHEC), a collaborative network of centers including the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, the University of Kentucky Medical Center and eight regional centers, works to improve the recruitment, distribution and retention of health care professionals in medically underserved communities across Kentucky.   

With dedicated preceptors guiding students in AHECs across Kentucky, the future of medicine is in exceptional hands. Two such preceptors, Michael Collins and Heath Cates, both gratis faculty at the UofL School of Medicine, are drawing from traditional approaches to deliver high-quality care in rural areas, while also preparing next generation of physicians to think differently about how care is delivered.  

For Collins in Bowling Green, that means reviving home-based care.Once a common practice, home visits have declined as modern medicine shifted to office settings.Homebound patients require extensive preparation and incur large transportation costs for regular office visits, leading many to give up on going to their primary care appointments altogether.  

“I remember a patient on a stretcher with multiple contractures and bedsores who I saw for 15 minutes and then was responsible for based on what little I could assess in that brief time,” Collins recalled. “In the home, I can evaluate both the patient’s and the caregiver’s needs by direct observation and provide support in a non-threatening environment. I hope I can inspire some students to think outside the exam room and do true family practice that not only begins in the nursery but continues in the nursing home or the patient's own home.” 

While Collins focuses on home visits, Cates works with a different kind of patient. As a pediatrician, Cates advocates for families who must often travel hours to see subspecialists and ensures that his patients receive his care when hospitalized, something fewer community physicians do today. Importantly, he brings students along with him for hospital-based care, exposing them to experience they might not otherwise have in training.  

“Seeing this type of care can be very valuable for our students,” shared Cates. “It can open them up to considering similar practices in the future, which would help meeta great need in many rural communities across Kentucky. I’ve had so many students tell me about loving their rotation in this more rural region and express how happy they were to have this experience.” 

Dr. Cates connection to AHEC runs deep. As an undergraduate student at Murray State University, his early AHEC experience played a role in his medical school application. Now as a practicing physician, he embraces the opportunity to serve as a mentor, imparting the same knowledge unto clinical students like he once received, too.  

“Our AHEC preceptors are driving forces in our goalas an institution to expandaccess to care and reduce provider shortages in rural areas,” said JeffreyBumpous, dean of the School of Medicine. “Through preceptors like Dr. Michael Collins and Dr. Heath Cates, we are preparing physicians who are both eager and equipped to serve rural communities. That progress is somethingwe are proud to support.” 

By blending the wisdom of traditional medicine with the demands of modern practice, Drs. Collins and Cates embody the heart of the UofL School of Medicine: to serve. Their work not only transforms the lives of patients but also plants the seeds of stronger, more resilient communities.