Updike: Social connectedness is key to overcoming Wyoming’s barriers

Having been born in Rock Springs and lived in Wyoming until graduating from the University of Wyoming, I care a lot about the Equality State and am humbled to have been invited to participate regularly in a column written by young Wyomingites. In my journey, I have seen inaccurate perceptions and limited dialogue between Wyoming residents and non-residents, which is problematic for Wyomingas attempts to strengthen its economy within the United Statesa overall.

I left Wyoming in August 2013 for medical school at Columbia University.

The year I left, I began introducing myself as a Wyomingite to those outside of the state, also with predictable responses. Why?a Lesson: People donat know much about Wyoming, and their limited knowledge polarizes their perceptions of the state.

Even Wyomingas business leaders note that nonresidentsa perception of Wyoming is a barrier to business development. In ENDOWas Stakeholder Outreach Recommendations and Final Report from November 2017, the first bullet point from the summary from one-on-one interviews with Wyomingas business leaders begins with the common theme of Wyomingas perception: aWyoming does not market itself well and its perception is not always favorable to people living outside of the state.a

These misunderstandings probably stem from insufficient communication between Wyomingites and others.

Yale Professor Olav Sorenson has suggested the greater the social relationships, the greater the information flow and access to resources, and the greater the ability to innovate.

This brings me to earlier this year.

Jonathan Updike, MD, MPH, hails from northern Wyoming and begins his general psychiatry residency at Stanford University this June.

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