Program Directors September Update

Posted on September 19, 2016 with 1 comment

We had a good time at the National Medical Student Conference in Kansas City.  It was great to meet many of you, and talk about our program. Tavish Donahue, our Director of Medical Education, myself, Drs. Jose Mata and Kaeli Caldwell all had a great time.  We were impressed by the student interest in community health and working with the under-served.  Some of you have already come by our Family Medicine Clinic in Marysville, and some are scheduled for a 4^th year rotation.

We are busy reviewing applications through ERAS, and we will begin sending out interview invitations this week. We look forward to seeing many of you in person, and touring our clinic and hospital settings. Snohomish County is just north of Seattle, with a variety of places to live in, and wonderful geography. As I write this, I am looking out of my family room windows, watching for salmon jumping in Skagit Bay.  I expect some of our residents will like living in some of the areas between Everett and Seattle, where they can easily get to the hospital or go to nearby Seattle, for some fun.

I just attended the WWAMI Program Director’s quarterly meeting, where around 30 Program Directors from 5 states collaborated on ways to make our residencies better. There was a lot of brain power in one room, and we all brought home good ideas to enact in our programs. The University of Washington Department of Family Medicine contributes tremendous support and expertise, as well.

Recently I went to a local conference called “The Edge of Amazing”, sponsored by the Providence Institute of Healthier Living, which is an offshoot of Providence Hospital in Everett, where the residents will be doing their inpatient rotations. The conference was all about folks in our community coming together to network and discuss ways we can address the social determinants of health.  As you know, these issues have tremendous effect on the lives of our patients, more then what we do for them in healthcare.  I look forward to working with our residents, putting creative energy into effecting change in this area.

We are excited about seeing some of you soon, to talk about your wants and aspirations, and to share our visions, plans and excitement for the new Sea Mar Marysville Community Health Center Family Medicine Residency!