3RNET Impact Award
About the 3RNET Impact Award
The 3RNET Impact Award is presented to individuals or organizations in recognition of their support for 3RNET and our mission to serve the recruitment and retention needs of rural and underserved communities throughout the nation.
The 3RNET Impact Award is presented to individuals or organizations in recognition of their support for 3RNET and our mission to serve the recruitment and retention needs of rural and underserved communities throughout the nation.
2024 Impact Award Recipient: Senator Kent Conrad
Congratulations to our 2024 Impact Award recipient, Senator Kent Conrad!
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To the left: a video message sent from Senator Conrad in recognition of receiving a 3RNET Impact Award. This video was played as part of the award ceremony at 3RNET's 2024 Annual Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota.
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We are honored to present Senator Kent Conrad with the 2024 3RNET Impact Award in recognition and celebration of his work in creating the Conrad 30 J-1 Visa Waiver Program.
Celebrating its 30th year in 2024, the Conrad 30 Program allows International Medical Graduates (IMGs) to waive the two-year home residency requirement of the J-1 Visa by agreeing to work in medically underserved areas. This important program has allowed thousands of highly trained physicians to help ensure access to quality health care is available in underserved areas – over 21,000 and counting.
Kent Conrad served in the United States Senate for the state of North Dakota from 1986-2012. Within the Senate, he served as chairman of the Budget Committee for 12 years.
When Senator Conrad began his career in the Senate, he became aware of two very important movements within the medical community. First, there were tremendous shortages of trained physicians in his home state of North Dakota. Secondly, his health staff noticed that there were increasing numbers of foreign doctors graduating from United States institutions who were required to immediately return to their countries of origin.
“We saw an opportunity,” Conrad shared. “That’s the genesis of the Conrad 30 program - to marry these needs. One, the need of rural areas to have good, well-trained doctors, and at the same time to give an opportunity to foreign-born doctors who were actually trained in the U.S. to serve here - if they served in an underserved area.”
One of the original proponents was Dr. Mary Wakefield, who went on to become the Director for the North Dakota Center for Rural Health (North Dakota’s 3RNET organizational member) before serving as the United States Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services. A proud North Dakotan, Dr. Wakefield served on Senator Conrad’s staff when they began to advocate for the Conrad 30 program.
“Initially, it was a lonely enterprise. For whatever reason, people didn’t want to upset the apple cart. We didn’t see it that way,” he added.
What others saw as an unneeded change, Senator Conrad saw as an opportunity for both health care and rural economies. As many of us know, rural and underserved recruitment efforts supported by programs like the Conrad 30 are not just about healthcare. The economic impact of quality healthcare can often be understated.
“If you don’t have a top-notch healthcare provider, you simply are not going to keep people, and you’re not going to attract people. It’s centrally important,” Conrad stated.
Economics were what drew Senator Conrad into politics to begin with. “I always believed that the single most important thing, other than defending the country from a threat, was economic advancement, economic opportunity,” he said. “That’s what people need in their lives. They need a chance to make it, to provide for their families. Part of providing for your family is providing healthcare, and you can’t provide healthcare if there’s no healthcare provider.”
This was the impetus, he said, of the Conrad 30 Program - to allow doctors that are trained in the United States to stay here in order to fill the gaps in underserved areas.
Data has been collected since 2001 around how many waivers each state uses annually. This important project was started by staff within the Texas State Office of Rural Health, and data collection of the program in 2001, there have been 21,000 doctors placed due to the J-1 Visa waiver. Though this is an incredible achievement, there is still progress to be made.
“I think that anybody that studies what is happening in rural healthcare understands the threat,” Senator Conrad said. “Small rural hospitals are going out of business because they can’t be sustained and that has to concern us all. If you have a farm accident or a car accident and you are 100 miles from a major hospital, it is a life or death matter to be able to get trained medical treatment. On one hand, we have made progress. On another hand, I am very much worried that we are going backwards.”
“You’d think something that makes as much common sense as this would be easy,” he said. “But no - it was hard. It was really a hard thing to get done. And then we’ve had to save it a couple of times.”
Senator Conrad mentioned his appreciation to Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has become a champion for keeping the Conrad 30 program going since Senator Conrad’s retirement. Her advocacy for the program is something that keeps Senator Conrad hopeful for the future of rural healthcare.
Another bright spot – the important work being done by J-1 Visa Coordinators and 3RNET Network Coordinators nationwide.
Senator Conrad had some words of encouragement for the individuals who work to meet the recruitment and retention needs of rural and underserved communities:
“Keep it up. This really matters to people’s lives, and you can see it. To have a community who doesn’t have a doctor - because of this program they are able to get somebody who has been trained in America, who has met the standards of America, that they are able to stay here and provide healthcare to these communities who might not have any, or might not have enough. You know, not every job one has can you say ‘I did something that made a difference in someone’s life,’” he shared.
Senator Conrad’s work has indeed made a tremendous difference in rural health across the nation. We are grateful for his efforts in the creation and preservation of the Conrad 30 Program and are honored to showcase his work as this year’s recipient of the 3RNET Impact Award.
Celebrating its 30th year in 2024, the Conrad 30 Program allows International Medical Graduates (IMGs) to waive the two-year home residency requirement of the J-1 Visa by agreeing to work in medically underserved areas. This important program has allowed thousands of highly trained physicians to help ensure access to quality health care is available in underserved areas – over 21,000 and counting.
Kent Conrad served in the United States Senate for the state of North Dakota from 1986-2012. Within the Senate, he served as chairman of the Budget Committee for 12 years.
When Senator Conrad began his career in the Senate, he became aware of two very important movements within the medical community. First, there were tremendous shortages of trained physicians in his home state of North Dakota. Secondly, his health staff noticed that there were increasing numbers of foreign doctors graduating from United States institutions who were required to immediately return to their countries of origin.
“We saw an opportunity,” Conrad shared. “That’s the genesis of the Conrad 30 program - to marry these needs. One, the need of rural areas to have good, well-trained doctors, and at the same time to give an opportunity to foreign-born doctors who were actually trained in the U.S. to serve here - if they served in an underserved area.”
One of the original proponents was Dr. Mary Wakefield, who went on to become the Director for the North Dakota Center for Rural Health (North Dakota’s 3RNET organizational member) before serving as the United States Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services. A proud North Dakotan, Dr. Wakefield served on Senator Conrad’s staff when they began to advocate for the Conrad 30 program.
“Initially, it was a lonely enterprise. For whatever reason, people didn’t want to upset the apple cart. We didn’t see it that way,” he added.
What others saw as an unneeded change, Senator Conrad saw as an opportunity for both health care and rural economies. As many of us know, rural and underserved recruitment efforts supported by programs like the Conrad 30 are not just about healthcare. The economic impact of quality healthcare can often be understated.
“If you don’t have a top-notch healthcare provider, you simply are not going to keep people, and you’re not going to attract people. It’s centrally important,” Conrad stated.
Economics were what drew Senator Conrad into politics to begin with. “I always believed that the single most important thing, other than defending the country from a threat, was economic advancement, economic opportunity,” he said. “That’s what people need in their lives. They need a chance to make it, to provide for their families. Part of providing for your family is providing healthcare, and you can’t provide healthcare if there’s no healthcare provider.”
This was the impetus, he said, of the Conrad 30 Program - to allow doctors that are trained in the United States to stay here in order to fill the gaps in underserved areas.
Data has been collected since 2001 around how many waivers each state uses annually. This important project was started by staff within the Texas State Office of Rural Health, and data collection of the program in 2001, there have been 21,000 doctors placed due to the J-1 Visa waiver. Though this is an incredible achievement, there is still progress to be made.
“I think that anybody that studies what is happening in rural healthcare understands the threat,” Senator Conrad said. “Small rural hospitals are going out of business because they can’t be sustained and that has to concern us all. If you have a farm accident or a car accident and you are 100 miles from a major hospital, it is a life or death matter to be able to get trained medical treatment. On one hand, we have made progress. On another hand, I am very much worried that we are going backwards.”
“You’d think something that makes as much common sense as this would be easy,” he said. “But no - it was hard. It was really a hard thing to get done. And then we’ve had to save it a couple of times.”
Senator Conrad mentioned his appreciation to Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has become a champion for keeping the Conrad 30 program going since Senator Conrad’s retirement. Her advocacy for the program is something that keeps Senator Conrad hopeful for the future of rural healthcare.
Another bright spot – the important work being done by J-1 Visa Coordinators and 3RNET Network Coordinators nationwide.
Senator Conrad had some words of encouragement for the individuals who work to meet the recruitment and retention needs of rural and underserved communities:
“Keep it up. This really matters to people’s lives, and you can see it. To have a community who doesn’t have a doctor - because of this program they are able to get somebody who has been trained in America, who has met the standards of America, that they are able to stay here and provide healthcare to these communities who might not have any, or might not have enough. You know, not every job one has can you say ‘I did something that made a difference in someone’s life,’” he shared.
Senator Conrad’s work has indeed made a tremendous difference in rural health across the nation. We are grateful for his efforts in the creation and preservation of the Conrad 30 Program and are honored to showcase his work as this year’s recipient of the 3RNET Impact Award.
Past Impact Award Recipients
2024
2019
2016
- Senator Kent Conrad - in recognition of his work in establishing the Conrad 30 J-1 Visa Waiver program
2019
- Mitchell Sellers - in recognition of Iowa Computer Guru's ongoing support of 3RNET and collaborative work on the 3RNET website
2016
- Ed Baker, PhD - in recognition of the support of 3RNET's use of the Community Apgar Project research to assist rural and underserved recruitment and retention
- Jackie Fannell - in recognition of the continued collaboration between 3RNET and PracticeSights.
- Dave Schmitz, MD - in recognition of the support of 3RNET's use of the Community Apgar Project research to assist rural and underserved recruitment and retention