By Philip Allison

First held in 1988, MASH is a two-week program held at UAMS Regional Campuses and community hospitals across Arkansas. A similar program, condensed into a single week known as miniMASH, is also offered. Participants must be entering the 11th or 12th grades and have at least a 2.5 grade point average. In a related program, students who will be entering eighth, ninth or 10th grade are eligible for a one-week intensive Community Health Applied in Medical Public Service (CHAMPS) program.

This year, 27 different sessions were held in 23 cities around the state. The program is free for students, thanks to a partnership with Arkansas Farm Bureau. In 2023, Arkansas Farm Bureau pledged a gift of $500,000 over five years to create the Farm Bureau Fund for Excellence, which will support health career recruitment efforts.

The MASH program offers a variety of hands-on activities and in-person experiences, such as:

Tour of the UAMS mobile unit
Suturing
Casting
Blood typing
Porcine heart dissection
Respiratory therapy
Mock trauma simulation
Sonography
Genetic counseling

UAMS MASH Program Introduces High School Students to Health Care Careers

by Dan Wright (dan.wright@arfb.com)

As president of Arkansas Farm Bureau, I have the privilege of seeing Arkansas’s diverse agriculture industry from a front-row seat. I also understand many of the challenges facing our state’s largest industry, and our ability to feed much of the world continues to be the most pressing issue. The passage of a federal “Farm Bill” is critical to the stability of agriculture in Arkansas and across the nation.

We recently traveled with roughly 40 county Farm Bureau leaders to Washington, D.C. One of the key messages to our Congressional delegation was the need to update the Farm Bill to consider the current and projected economic conditions facing farmers and ranchers. Over the past few years, with weather patterns changing and higher input costs, the producer’s risk seem to increase and profit margins grow tighter with every growing season.

Net farm income across Arkansas is expected to be down by $500 million by the end of 2024, according to the Rural & Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center. The report cites a 15 percent decline in net farm incomes in 2023 and a projected 25 percent drop in 2024. Not many family businesses can take that sort of loss and keep their doors open. Arkansas farmers are no exception. The assurances provided by the Farm Bill are needed to keep many of our family farms in business.

We need more ‘FARM’ in the Farm Bill