Morris, who is now 30, is in his second year of a three-year residency program with the Mayo/St. Cloud Hospital Family Practice Residency Program. The program, which was begun last year through the major efforts of Dr. Cummings of the St. Cloud Hospital, is sponsored by the Mayo Clinic as a residency program focusing on training doctors to go into the field of family practice medicine.
His first year was spent at Fairview Riverside in the Twin Cities, and now, for his second year, he will spend one month at various medical facilities gaining intensive one-month training in various specialty fields. For the month of May, he is working under the guidance of Dr. Solum; learning more in his desired specialty by getting hands on experience in treating patients in a rural setting.
Morris, originally from New Prague, Minnesota, took his four-year undergraduate studies at St. Cloud State University. He had planned to go into the area of law, or possibly business, but in his sophomore year, decided to go into a medical career and declared a major in bio-medicine. "I wanted to work in an area that I could help people, and also be challenged academically," he said.
After his four years of undergraduate work, he joined the Navy, and was able to continue toward his medical degree at the University of Minnesota. After four more years of study, he graduated from the U of M in 1995, becoming an M.D.
He's learned a lot during his month in Paynesville. "They do a good job here in dealing with family issues," he said.
Chiropractic externship
Chandra Miller, Kimball, S.D., is doing her externship from Northwest College of Chiropractic, Bloomington, at the Paynesville Chiropractic Clinic with Dr. Liz Greguson. She started at the clinic on May 5 and will complete her training on July 28 and graduate on Aug. 2.
“I will be doing everything the clinic doctor does under the guidance of Dr. Greguson,” she said. During their externships, students learn the dos and don’ts of a working clinic which also includes the business end, as well.
Miller did her undergraduate work at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, and her internships during her eighth and ninth trimester.
Miller said when she first started college, she wanted to be a physical therapist. But after hurting her back and attending a chiropractor, she felt great after the adjustment. “I thought there was something to this, but I didn’t know much about chiropractic work at that time,” she said. “Working as a receptionist at a chiropractic office while attending college, I saw the results doctors had with patients and the wide diverse range of problems people encountered.”
“Between my junior and senior year I decided chiropractic work was what I wanted to do. I’m glad I picked this field and wish more people knew about the benefits of chiropractic,” she added. “I’m excited to be in Paynesville and working with Dr. Greguson. She uses the Thompson technique which I’m not that familiar with. I can learn a lot from her from the business end, dealing with patients and techniques.”