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The Purple Zone
Welcome to The Purple Zone (formerly Our Kids Our Schools).
Bridging the Gap between Public Policy, Practice & People.
The Purple Zone explores what it really means to align how we govern, how we educate, and how we show up for our communities.
Hosted by Alexis — a PhD student in public policy and administration, and longtime educator and advocate for kids, communities, and the systems that shape our lives. This podcast connects the dots between policy and practice, without the politics or platitudes.
It’s about naming what often goes unsaid — and making space for a more honest, human approach to systems that impact all of us.
How systems shape our communities, from policy on paper to action in practice. + Thinking Out Loud as a PhD Student
The Purple Zone
Idaho’s Doctor Shortage, WWAMI, & the $1 Billion Rural Health Grant with Rep. Dustin Manwaring
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Idaho ranks 50th in physicians per capita and 44th in primary care access. So what’s the real plan to fix it?
In this episode, I sit down with Representative Dustin Manwaring to break down Idaho’s Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) strategy, the proposed 36-month rollout, and how it intersects with the $1 billion Rural Health Transformation Grant.
We talk through the core problem the working group set out to solve and what “Train Here, Stay Here, Grow Here” actually means in practice and how it connects with workforce pipelines, residency expansion, and long-term retention?
We also dig into the definition of “rural.” Critical access hospitals? Small towns near metro hubs? Urban hospitals that support rural areas? How the taskforce defines rural will shape who benefits and how federal dollars are distributed.
Plus:
- How the UME plan intersects with the $1B rural investment
- What legislators are watching to ensure accountability
- Whether Idaho’s low resident-to-medical-student ratio limits retention
- The future of WWAMI and how new legislation could shift seat allocations
- Whether Idaho eventually needs its own full medical school
If this plan works, what will Idaho’s physician landscape look like 10 years from now?
This is a forward-looking conversation about workforce, access, and how policy decisions today shape healthcare for the next generation.
Find Alexis on Instagram and JOIN in the conversation: https://www.instagram.com/the_idaho_lady/
JOIN the convo on Substack & STAY up-to-date with emails and posts https://substack.com/@theidaholady?r=5katbx&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page
Send Alexis an email with guest requests, ideas, or potential collaboration.
email@thealexismorgan.com
Find great resources, info on school communities, and other current projects regarding public policy:
https://www.thealexismorgan.com