$2.7M grant to extend residency program to Ellensburg

YAKIMA, WASH. -- Central Washington Family Medicine has received a $2.7 million grant that allows it to expand its residency program into Kittitas County.

The grant was awarded last month by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

Family Medicine currently has 21 medical school graduates working on their residency in Yakima. The money allows the program to add two new residents at Community Health of Central Washington's Ellensburg clinic each year for three years, building up to a full capacity of six residents in Ellensburg.

Residency is kind of a modern apprenticeship, where aspiring doctors get real-world experience under a supervising physician for at least three years after receiving their degree.

Dr. Russell Maier, program director at Community Health, said directors have wanted a resident-training program in Ellensburg for a long time. Kittitas County is considered medically underserved by family doctors.

"If you train a physician in a rural area, they are very likely to go back there," he explained.

In Washington state, he said, about half the graduates who go through the three-year Yakima residency program for family medicine stay in Eastern Washington once they're fully licensed.

That may not sound like a lot, Maier said, but it's much higher than the family medicine residency programs on the west side of the state, where only about 2 percent of graduates end up on this side of the mountains.

"The biggest stumbling block in training in Ellensburg has been a lack of funding," Maier said, but the grant fixes that. "We are pleased as punch we got it."

The one-time grant won't fund the program permanently. Maier acknowledged that starting the Ellensburg residencies is "a bit of an act of faith." The HRSA grant is part of a national pilot program, but as long as it's successful, it will have continued funding, Maier said.

In addition to keeping more doctors in rural areas, having residents train locally also benefits the doctors already in place, Maier said. Graduates who are fresh out of college come in with the newest techniques and high energy, and ask good questions that make the older doctors brush up on their knowledge.

"This is one of the positive outcomes of the Affordable Care Act -- additional funds to allow residency programs, specifically teaching health center programs, to expand," Maier said.

Family Medicine plans to start Ellensburg training for graduates in June, with some of their specialized training still taking place in Yakima.

The Yakima class size is also expanding, thanks to a similar grant last year, and will now have eight students a year. Once Ellensburg is up and running, Family Medicine will have 30 residents at full capacity.

* Molly Rosbach can be reached at 509-577-7628 or mrosbach@yakimaherald.com.