Press release from St. Joseph Hospital:

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.