PITTSBURG — The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has approved the KU-CHC/SEK Rural Family Medicine Residency, completing the final step to becoming a place to grow and retain the next generation of rural family physicians.

“We are excited to begin the residency program,” said Reta Baker, CHC/SEK vice president of clinical education. “Southeast Kansas has a need for more physicians and certainly welcome them to our community.”

The rural family medicine residency is a collaborative initiative between the University Of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) in Kansas City, Kansas, and the Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas (CHC/SEK) in Pittsburg. Applications for the residency will be accepted in the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS), and should be available by Nov. 10.

By selecting this residency experience the learning and training environments will provide the best of two worlds; urban and rural. Year one residents will be based at the KU academic medical center in Kansas City, Kansas. The curriculum will provide experience in an academic institution providing a solid foundation in preparation for the transition to rural training in years two and three. 

The primary residency site for rural training will be with the FQHC of CHC/SEK. All of the resources needed for this underserved rural community will be found under one roof along with the Residency Continuity Clinic. Residents will also train at Pittsburg’s Ascension Via Christi Hospital to learn care of the acute patient in a rural setting.

Unique benefits and features of the FQHC based residency experience include but are not limited to: learning to manage complex care patients and access specialty care and consultation from a rural environment; being the only residency in the community eliminates competition for procedures and experiences as well as focused support and attention from faculty, and access to a multidisciplinary team on-site to immediately address your patients’ needs may include but not be limited to such services as; dental, behavioral health, wellness, diagnostics, population health, community health worker and care management to name some.

“Having a Family Medicine residency in Pittsburg has been a dream for many years and we are thrilled to see it become a reality,” Associate Program Director Bethany Enoch, MD, said. “Training excellent family doctors has been my passion for a long time, and the ability to do it in southeast Kansas where these physicians are so needed will be another great step toward excellent health for all of us in southeast Kansas.”

To learn more about the residency program people can visit its website at chcsekresidency.org.