For a physician that really wants
to go into family medicine,
it's because they really want to take care
of the patient and the entire family
and get to know their patients,
not just know their diagnoses.
We're looking for people, though,
who really have a heart
for that type of care
and want to, not just be able to,
but want to take care of those patients.
Residency is a time where you can explore
what you do like and what you don't like
in a more intense way where
you really kind of single down
what it is that you like to do.
As a person who kind of liked everything,
there's so many different
specialty clinics
that we have just within our own building
that you can really explore
those different facets
of family medicine and
decide what you like.
As an FQHC, it really has expanded
the amount of services that
we can offer to our patients
and the community.
And as a residency program,
we're really unique
in that our entire clinic
and our whole foundation
is as an FQHC.
A lotta residency programs have clinics
that are FQHC the residents may rotate in
or work part-time in,
but our whole foundation
is now as an FQHC.
I've had several residents
that specifically
have been hired at FQHCs because they have
the experience of working here.
So they have a skillset that
maybe they wouldn't have had
if they hadn't done
residency within an FQHC.
We're kind of a larger program.
We have 10 residents per class,
so that's 30 residents altogether.
I think that that's a really great thing
in terms of we cover a
lot of different services.
And you know, you're thinking
you're not in the big cities,
so maybe I'm missing out on
some of those really odd cases
or once in a lifetime things,
but people present to
our office, you know,
with really interesting things.
But also, you'll just
find that there's a sense
of ownership of the healthcare needs
of everybody in Central
and Southern Illinois.
I was born and raised here,
but I really think that
it has a lot to offer,
you know, young families and young adults.
It's really not an issue to
take a weekend away to Chicago,
St. Louis, Nashville.
Cost of living is very, very low here
in comparison to those bigger cities.
I love music. I love theater.
There's all of those things here.
In terms of having a young family,
it's a very family-friendly place
and a good place to raise kids.
Probably one of the things
that we're really noted for
is our comprehensive care
clinic, our hotspotting clinic,
but it's really how we
are looking at patients
that have high needs in the community,
combining pharmaceutical
services and counseling services
and community outreach.
It's interesting because
it's a community involvement
and it's community outreach,
yet we have had people from
Harvard and other programs,
Johns Hopkins, coming to learn from us
on how to take this approach.
We really hope to create lifetime learners
in an academic medicine approach,
and we teach that in a clinical setting
in academic medicine so
that you are learning
to mesh both and be able to continue that
on in your careers.
We have a lot of diversity
that's within each class.
We all come to the table
with different experiences.
Those strengths that
people bring to the team,
you know, makes us all better.
So I think that as far
as learning how to become
a family medicine resident,
this is a perfect place to be.
