Health Notes: First-year Duluth medical students don white coats

Sixty first-year medical students of the University of Minnesota Medical School-Duluth received their white coats in a ceremony on Saturday.

The annual event, during which the students promise compassionate care, took place at the University of Minnesota Duluth's Weber Music Hall. The 60 were chosen from among 1,279 who applied this year, said Michelle Juntunen, director of medical advancement at the school, which is on the UMD campus.

The students spend their first two years in Duluth, and most spend their third and four years at the Twin Cities campus. Some spend their third year in the Rural Physician Associate Program, an off-campus program. The mission of the Duluth campus is to develop students who eventually will practice family medicine in rural Minnesota and American Indian communities.

Duluth's charter class graduated in 1976 with 24 students.

Ranking Medicaid plans

A Medicaid health coverage plan from Wisconsin was ranked sixth-best in the country and one from Minnesota was 11th, according to the November edition of Consumer Reports.

Security Health Plan of Wisconsin, the only Wisconsin plan rated, was sixth-best, according to the nonprofit National Committee for Quality Assurance, which provided the rankings. It had better-than-average ratings in all three categories: consumer satisfaction, prevention and treatment.

The two Minnesota plans, Medica and Blue Plus, were ranked 11th and 24th, respectively. However, both of those also had above-average scores in all three categories.

The best plan, according to the raters: Fallon Community Health Plan in Massachusetts.

The organization rated 99 plans in 30 states plus the District of Columbia. Not all plans or states were ranked because many plans do not publicly report their performance data, a spokeswoman said.

Powerful in pink

Virginia firefighters are wearing pink shirts this month in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and you can get a shirt for yourself.

Virginia Firefighters Local 390 is selling the T-shirts with proceeds going to the Liz Prebich Foundation. They can be purchased at the Virginia Fire Station or the gift shop at the Virginia Regional Medical Center. Prices are $10 for S-XL and $15 for 2XL-4XL.

Prebich, a Virginia resident who served as a St. Louis County commissioner for more than 14 years, died Sept. 15, 2001, at age 52. She was first treated for breast cancer in 1988 and suffered a relapse in 1999.

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