SPOKANE — The new Washington State University medical school is welcoming its first class of students.
The students arrive Wednesday at the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine in Spokane.
Officials for the medical school say it will focus on training doctors to work in underserved areas of the state.
The state keeps a list of medically underserved areas, based on the number of providers, the number of elderly residents and infant mortality rates. The map includes all of Pend Oreille, Ferry, Okanogan, Douglas, Columbia, Garfield, Asotin, Franklin and Yakima counties, as well as much of Stevens County.
The Spokesman-Review says students of the new school must either live in Washington or be from the Evergreen State.
Nine of the incoming students are from rural Washington counties.
