MARY BALDWIN COLLEGE, Va -- Virginia could face a shortage of hundreds of doctors by the end of this decade.
Medical schools and health science programs are trying to figure out how to train more health specialists to meet the need. Mary Baldwin College hopes to help the problem in the Valley by opening its new college for health sciences.
Officials at Mary Baldwin said this is a popular place for people to retire. Between aging baby boomers and retiring doctors, there is a greater demand for health care.
They hope they will be able to train more medical professionals in areas that are currently needed with their new programs.
"Put in place a physical therapy program, an occupational therapy program, and a physicians assistants studies program. And hopefully those programs will be in place by 2014-2015," said Vice President of Health Sciences at Mary Baldwin College Linda Seestedt-Stanford.
Some medical schools are thinking about adding programs to help pay off the loans of doctors who stay in Virginia.
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