Confronting a crucial lack of practicing psychiatrists in McHenry County, the jurisdiction’s Mental Health Board has created a loan program to recruit and retain professional psychiatric physicians focused on mental illness prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
Through the novel approach of creating assistance to help pay medical school loans, the board recently established the McHenry County Mental Health Board Psychiatric Loan Recognition Program.
Rather than functioning as a contract per se, the program will serve as a way to reward participants for their service to the immediate community by providing partial payments to the doctors’ loan originators — whether the practitioners contract with specific employers or become otherwise affiliated with area providers.
Certain qualification requirements include U.S. citizenship and licensing fulfillments; possession of a medical degree from an accredited U.S. or Canadian medical school, and eligibility for certification by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Inc.
Candidates are expected to have a current license to practice medicine in Illinois as well as qualify as new to any posts in McHenry County. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, so there is no hard deadline; approval is subject to funding availability and the community’s ongoing needs.
Prospective practitioners are invited to visit https://www.co.mchenry.il.us/home/showdocument?id=64630 or contact Scott Block, Executive Director at sblock@mc708.org or 815-788-4364.