Erie Family Health Center

In a bold step that will help shape the future of health care in Chicago, Erie’s board of directors has approved the launch of a community-based training program for family medicine physicians!

With partners Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Norwegian American Hospital, the program will accept its first class of eight resident physicians in July 2010.  By July 2013, twenty-four residents will be in training, completing their out-patient clinical duties at Erie Family Health Center and their inpatient training at Norwegian. These residents will also have access to specialty rotations at other hospitals, including Children’s Memorial Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Hospitals. This program is unique in that students will complete a high quality training program that is university affiliated but based within the underserved communities of Chicago.

The needs of community-based health care are changing and a new generation of high quality, exquisitely trained family physicians are needed for the medically underserved.  I like to call it training the next generation of “urban combat” primary care physicians who will choose to build their practices in the same neighborhoods in which they trained. 

 

What is an “urban combat’ primary care physician you ask? First, the students will be immersed within the community. This urban experience will take them outside the confinement of university walls and into the heart of underserved communities. And combat, because delivering quality health care in under- resourced areas requires the savvy and skill of veteran soldiers. A partnership between a world-renowned academic institution, a long-standing community hospital and a community health center is going to be a winning combo to train a force of “urban combat” physicians.

This project is not without challenges, however.  Will enough medical students be drawn to such a unique training program?  Will the surrounding community embrace this new partnership?  And, will graduating residents choose to plant their roots in medically underserved communities?

I hope that you will continue to tune into Beats per Minute as the details and news unfold for our new Residency Program. Erie is thrilled to be partnering with Northwestern and Norwegian on this innovative program that will train our future community health care leaders and physicians.

Tags: community health, Erie, Residency Program