Thirteen leaders from the People's Republic of China, a North Central Florida health clinic and the U.S. Department of State may seem like a mixed bunch, but the groups united Monday for a common purpose.
On Monday, 13 emerging Chinese leaders visited WellFlorida Council health clinic in Gainesville, the Alachua County Organization for Rural Needs clinic in Brooker, Fla., Trenton Medical Center in Trenton, Fla., and Suwannee River Health Education Center in Alachua.
They are participating in an international program to study rural economic development and poverty alleviation through health care.
The Chinese leaders were chosen by the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program, which has hosted emerging leaders from all over the world to observe American programs in a variety of categories since 1940, according to Monika Wilcox, program officer for the Academy for Educational Development.
The Academy is a nonprofit organization that planned the three-week trip lasting from July 13 to 31.
Other destinations include Washington, Syracuse, N.Y., New York City, Orlando, St. Louis, Kansas City and San Francisco.
According to Wilcox, WellFlorida was chosen as a place of interest because of its diverse geography, culture and services provided to rural farmers.
WellFlorida is the largest of the 11 local health clinics in the state. It covers 16 counties, most of them rural communities, said Jeff Feller, chief operations officer.
WellFlorida partners with UF, Shands HealthCare, the Alachua County Health Department, North Florida Regional Hospital and CHOICES, Alachua County's health services program, to conduct a community health needs assessment.
"Outcomes are a lot worse for rural residents," Feller said. "Out of the 25 leading causes of death in Florida, 21 of them are worse for rural residents than urban residents. That gives you an idea of what they're up against."
WellFlorida's Rural Health Partnership program tries to help north central Florida rural residents gain more access to health care.
"We emphasize cooperation over competition," said Kendra Siler-Marsiglio, Rural Health Partnership program manager.
This theory of cooperation over competition is one the Chinese leaders said they will take with them back to their country.
"They also want to encourage public and private health care providers to work together instead of competing with each other, and they plan on encouraging their government to dedicate more money to rural health," Siler-Marsiglio said. "They really have an opportunity [to make a difference] because some of these areas in China are untouched, so they can do it the right way from scratch instead of trying to fix problems as they arrive like we have."
Feller said these visitors were a group of "heavy-hitters."
"As their brand of capitalism emerges, so too will their health care system," he said.
