We want to show progress we can make with these programs and . . . The center will be involved in the rural nursing program, which involves a distance learning link between area colleges to boost nursing training. Officials also are developing community-based sites where students will receive training and are looking at specific research projects such as the role of the ruby red grapefruit in cancer prevention. During the summers, the students would do medical school training in the Coastal Bend. Then we will encourage them to do their residency training in family medicine in the Coastal Bend.'' Coastal Bend doctors and medical professionals would serve as these students' mentors.
Students participate in distance learning and onsite instruction at area medical facilities.
The center is working to develop an enhanced education program to help area residents who have speech or hearing problems. If this happens, students could go to a local university and get a degree in communications disorders. Overcoming the past The center faced several obstacles during the legislative session earlier this year. But area lawmakers, led by state Sen. Carlos Truan, D-Corpus Christi, eventually overcame them. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, concerned about cost and increasing the number of medical students in Texas, opposed creating the center.