Meet the farmer who helped Mayo strengthen its understanding of rural health care

Meet the farmer who helped Mayo strengthen its understanding of rural health care

KASSON, Minn. — Jim Checkel always planned to be a farmer. Growing up on his parents’ farm in the small town of Kasson, he figured he’d work on the farm full time once he graduated from high school. But his parents wanted him to go to college, so he earned a two-year associate’s degree in auto mechanics and started looking for work. Some 40 years ago, he applied at the prestigious Mayo Clinic about 15 miles east of his farm, hoping to work on it…