The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has accredited the St. Joseph Hospital of Eureka Family Medicine Residency Program, a partnership between St. Joseph Hospital – Eureka and Open Door Community Health Centers. The program, which provides three years of training to physicians that have graduated from medical school, has been approved to have eighteen residents. The inaugural class of six residents will start in July 2019.
The accreditation represents a transformational moment for the medical community on the North Coast as core faculty from Open Door Community Health Centers, specialist physicians from St. Joseph Health Medical Group, select independent physicians affiliated with St. Joseph Hospital – Eureka and hospital leadership, collaborate to educate these physicians.
The program will address health care across the continuum, including holistic primary care focus, training in complex hospital based medical care provided at a regional medical and trauma center; and work with community based services including home health, hospice and support services.
“This is a water shed moment for our community,” said Roberta Luskin-Hawk, MD, Chief Executive St. Joseph Health, Humboldt County. “With the establishment of the residency program, we are positioned to address the critical shortage of primary care providers in our community.”
The program will focus on rural family medicine and provide a unique opportunity for physicians in training to immerse themselves in rural medicine and to experience rural living as an integral member of the community. More importantly, it prepares new physicians to confidently practice the full spectrum of family medicine.
During their training, resident physicians will be available to see patients under the supervision of the faculty, and after their three years of training, national statistics suggest many will stay within fifty miles of their residency location.
“We see this program as not only a critical way to build the ranks of our local physician population, but an opportunity to leverage the exceptional professional experience of local physicians and teach the next generation of physician leaders in Humboldt County,” added May Hong, MD, program director St. Joseph Hospital Eureka Family Medicine Residency Program.
About the St. Joseph Hospital of Eureka Family Medicine Residency Program
The St. Joseph Hospital of Eureka Family Medicine Residency trains residents to treat individuals in a way that recognizes their needs a whole person, and as a community member. We accomplish this mission by teaching residents how to address the unique challenges of a rural, underserved community. St. Joseph Hospital of Eureka residents learn to be resourceful, autonomous providers and leaders in family medicine. The St. Joseph Hospital of Eureka Residency is a brand new, unopposed 6-6-6 residency program welcoming its first class of six residents in July 2019.
About St. Joseph Health, Humboldt County
St. Joseph Health, Humboldt County (SJHS-HC) is committed to meeting the highest standards in health care delivery while ministering to the needs of the whole person – body, mind and spirit. This commitment to the people of the North Coast is expressed in the St. Joseph Health System's five core values – Compassion, Dignity, Excellence, Justice and Integrity. The health care ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange began in Humboldt County during the flu epidemic of 1918. The Sisters opened the first St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka in 1920 and committed to continually improving the health and quality of life of the people served. This commitment continues today and has been further defined by the vision of the SJHS-HC - to bring people together to provide compassionate care, promote health improvement, and create healthy communities.
About Open Door Community Health Centers
Open Door started as a single clinic in 1971. At that time there wasn’t enough access to quality health care in Humboldt and the surrounding counties. The founders of Open Door Community Health Centers shared the vision of providing excellent health care and education to all members of the community. Open Door has 13 clinics, and 3 mobile clinics, spread throughout Humboldt and Del Norte counties, serving approximately 50,000 patients a year and employing over 500 members of the community. Open Door continually seeks to promote the development of a health care system which meets the needs and enhances the health of all members of our community.
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