Baptist Memorial Health Care and the Church Health Center have launched a new family medicine residency, a major initiative aimed at improving health and access to health care in Memphis.
The first group of four residents will begin work in July 2016. Then, the program will grow by four new residents in 2017 and 2018, when the Church Health Center will operate out of its new home in the renovated Sears Crosstown building in Memphis, Tenn. Recruitment for the first group of residents is already underway.
The idea for the partnership came when Dr. Anne Sullivan, Baptist Memorial Health Care’s chief academic officer and a primary care physician with Baptist Medical Group-Family Physicians Group, heard Church Health Center CEO Dr. Scott Morris speak about caring for the underserved in Memphis. She approached him about Baptist and the Church Health Center partnering to create a family medicine residency program.
Baptist is funding the program and providing inpatient experience and supervision. Residents will be trained in the Church Health Center’s integrated, whole-person model of care, and that training will place an emphasis on serving the underserved. Residents also will gain experience at local physician offices. Baptist and the Church Health Center share leadership for the program, and Dr. Sullivan is the program director.
“We are grateful to have Baptist as a partner,” said Church Health Center CEO Dr. Scott Morris. “Together, we will attract the best and brightest to learn and work with us at Crosstown, with all the advantages that come from our many community partners, along with our committed volunteer primary care and specialty doctors. The young doctors in our residency will also learn to love Memphis, and they will want to stay. In the long run, we will grow our physician strength in family medicine and begin to significantly address Memphis’ shortage of access to primary care physicians.”
“Primary care physicians are such an important part of our community, and we’re happy to do whatever we can to bring more of them to Memphis,” said Dr. Paul DePriest, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Baptist. “This partnership will provide some of Memphis’ most underserved citizens with physicians who can help keep them healthier.”
“This effort has the full support of the Memphis hospital community because, as a city, our shortage of doctors is something we are all working hard to address,” Dr. Morris said. “We need more doctors to care for the people of Memphis. It will take the collective effort of the entire Memphis medical community, but Memphis is a can do city, and for almost 30 years we have been blessed to have so many allies in carrying out our mission.”
The Church Health Center provides affordable health care to uninsured working people and their families in Memphis and Shelby County. The Center’s whole-person model of care helps people reach their highest level of wellness, both at its certified medical fitness facility and also through its outreach to the community. The Center is the largest faith-based health care organization of its type in the country serving the uninsured, with more than 30 clinics founded on its model.