Members of the House and Senate higher education committees traveled to Spokane last week to explore the many postsecondary opportunities located in eastern Washington, including the UW School of Dentistry’s Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) and the UW Medicine’s WWAMI Regional Medical Education programs.
The nationally renowned RIDE program trains dentists to meet the needs of the state’s rural and underserved communities. Headquartered in Spokane, RIDE’s innovative training model immerses students in community-based clinics to gain valuable field experience while also providing high quality dental care to communities with access-to-care challenges. In the classroom, RIDE is co-located with Eastern Washington University’s dental hygiene program to maximize resources and enhance training. RIDE is a cost-effective, scalable model for increasing the number of qualified dentists practicing in rural and underserved areas, and prioritizes team-oriented, culturally competent training so graduates are prepared to meet the unique needs of Washington’s diverse communities.
Enhancing the RIDE program is one of the University’s top priorities for the upcoming legislative session. The UW is requesting $2.5 million in ongoing funds from the state to double the number of RIDE students trained from 32 to 64 and to add a second year of curriculum based in Spokane. The UW has already secured $1.5M in federal funds for dental simulation equipment to support this expansion and aims to attract additional research funding to Spokane as well. The tour allowed the visiting legislators and faculty to learn more about this impactful program and the University’s funding request, as well as meet current RIDE students and faculty and see them in action.
Next on the agenda was WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho), the UW School of Medicine’s one-of-kind, multi-state medical education program. Two of WWAMI’s primary goals are to increase the number of primary care physicians, especially in rural and underserved areas, and provide community-based medical education. To further these goals, the UW teamed up with Gonzaga University to create the Health Partnership in Spokane and together, the UW and Gonzaga partnered with McKinstry to build a new center for medical education, health sciences, and innovation. This new building is located at 840 E. Spokane Falls Blvd. and is where students studying at the UW School of Medicine in Spokane complete their first 18 months of medical school. It also allows for innovative research and brings world-class health science experts to the region. The higher education committees toured all four floors of the new building, connected with WWAMI students and faculty, and learned about some of the exciting research already taking place in the building.
Thank you to the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce and Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committees for taking the opportunity to learn more about RIDE and WWAMI, as well as your continued support of the UW.