The education programs are designed to help primary care doctors understand more about urological problems and determine when to make referrals. One of the issues there, however, is that there are few urologists in Utah and almost all of them are on the Wasatch Front. There are only two females in those ranks, as well: deVries and Dr. Lisa Stout, who are trying to recruit others.

The dearth of specialists makes it important to teach primary care doctors more about the specialty, so they can better treat their patients, deVries said. IVUmed now has five volunteer doctors and two nurse practitioners who will provide educational outreach in urban and rural community health centers.

As for the online education, because travel is expensive and sometimes hard to arrange, they're trying to reach doctors worldwide with a Web-based video library to augment personal teaching activities conducted by volunteer teams. It will also connect IVUmed partners through global online collaboration, according to Krista Stoker, a publicist for the group.

The organization is always looking for help in the form of money, supplies and volunteers, including nonmedical volunteers. For more information, call 801-524-0201. Or go online to www.ivumed.org.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com