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PAGE 11 September/October 2020 PAGE 11 September/October 2020 Kent's grandparents lived next door to her childhood home. They were hard workers who cared for others around them, helping where they could. Her parents made it a priority to share the produce they harvested with others in need and with their church community. These examples created a foundation for service and goodwill that became tenets that Kent would live by. Her uncle, a general practitioner, volunteered to treat patients in a small, rural, mountaintop community in an African village. He happened to be the only doctor there and recruited other people to come and serve. Kent decided to go. "I spent two months with him," she said. "I just hung around the hospital and learned a lot. That experience had a big impact on me." Kent attended medical school at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and soon realized that primary care wasn't for her. But she loved talking to patients. "In psychiatry, you have enough time to really get to know the patient and really listen to them, without being rushed," Kent said. "You get to hear their stories and honor their stories. That's what I love about psychiatry." Kent called it a natural fit. This fit translated to the ER with suicidal patients. She said in those instances, she was the go-to. As she worked her psychiatry rotation in an inpatient unit, she saw, for the first time, how many mental health conditions played out in patients. Kent completed her residency at the University of Washington School of Medicine. After finishing an adult psychiatry fellowship, a family tragedy influenced what came next. Her young niece succumbed to cancer at age 20. The devastating toll it took on her niece's young sisters influenced Kent's decision to practice child psychiatry. She ended up in Seattle, living on a boat for a year, where she opened her own practice. After 12 years, she was ready for a change. Kent completed her studies in forensic psychiatry in a year and then provided forensic evaluations for the courts. At the same time, she worked in private practice at a neuroatypical clinic that served autistic patients. Kent eventually returned to Michigan. But she wasn't alone. She had three-year-old twins and a five-year-old, confronted with the arduous task of trying to balance motherhood and work. After working in residential treatment at a boarding school for a while, Kent stumbled across the Health Care Collaborative (HCC) of Rural Missouri, based in Lexington, and its Live Well Community Health Centers. She met with HCC CEO Toniann Richard, and things just clicked. "I liked her, and I liked the group of women I met," she said. "It was a really good fit and good timing." Kent flew every other week from Michigan to Missouri to practice at the Live Well Centers. HCC's CEO Toniann Richard agrees. "We knew immediately that Dr. Kent was just what we needed," Richard said. "She brings such a rich, dynamic mix of expertise that's extremely hard to There is something about working on the family farm that creates values like developing a strong work ethic, teamwork, and a desire to choose a career path that serves the greater good. Marcia Kent, MD, picked up these attributes and much more, working on her family's centennial fruit and grain farm in Saranac, Michigan, a small town outside of Grand Rapids. The farming community there, which includes apple orchards, is reminiscent of the Lexington, Missouri area, a place where she'd later practice and put her stamp on behavioral health care. Live Well's Dr. Marcia Kent Derives Hope from Faith, Children, and Community By Tonia Wright, Publisher