Sutter's Commitment to the Underserved
Family Medicine Residency Program
We here at the Sutter Health Family Medicine Residency program value service to the underserved and disenfranchised populations. With one out of six Americans lacking insurance and others “underinsured” with non-comprehensive policies, helping take care of our local population’s health is not only compassionate, it is a moral imperative.
Many residents have entered our program to continue their quest in helping the underserved. Graduate Dr. Mike Molina, the only one in his Stanford class to go into family medicine, returned to the Sacramento area to serve a large Latino population. Dr. Bianca Roberts participated in an urban underserved track while in medical school at UCSF and now returns to her native home here in Sacramento to continue serving an urban population.
Residents are introduced to marginalized populations from the start on their inpatient Internal Medicine rotation where many uninsured “no-doc” patients are admitted. Although located in a beautified part of downtown, Sutter Medical Center’s central location does attract all walks of life. Residents learn from the many physical and mental ailments encountered in this population and, in turn, are able to lend a sympathetic ear and impart a caring touch. Sometimes residents “adopt” these patients into their own continuity clinic.
Along with women’s health expert Dr. Sharon Blosk, residents provide advanced GYN care to indigent patients referred by County health and other shoestring clinics in the form of colposcopy, cervical and endometrial biopsies, cryotherapy, and LEEPs.
Residents are exposed to a more rural population through a rotation in the Sierra foothills at Sutter Amador. There, Sutter internist Bob Hartmann serves as the public health officer, and he teaches students and residents the value of pubic health policy. He’s also passionate about rattlesnake bites!
Through community rotations, residents work with underserved populations through County services (including the TB Clinic, The Davis Community Clinic and The Effort). Residents also rotate through a local high school and learn the art of connecting with troubled teens. Many residents opt to volunteer at the local UC Davis student run free clinics. Seven of the 14 student run clinics in the state are located right here in our capitol! . Faculty member Dr. Nathan Hitzeman has been the Instructor of Record of Clinica Tepati since 2006.
Continuity clinic is the ultimate medical home for many of our underserved patients. Although Sutter Health contracts with many private insurance plans, a significant proportion of our patient population is comprised of Medicaid or indigent Medicare folks. Residents learn early on the importance of addressing multiple problems in a visit, the psychosocial context of the patient, and cost-effective medication management.
We are developing a relationship with The Effort. The Effort is a federally qualified health center, and is a local expanding health provider for indigent folks which specializes in mental health and substance abuse disorders. The Effort has joined forces with our Emergency Department (ED) through the T3 Program (Triage, Transport, and Treat). This program identifies frequent visitors to the ED and provides them outpatient continuity through The Effort. Instead of “haunting” the ED and getting short term fixes, these patients learn to pick up the pieces of their lives through intensive counseling and social services.
Some of our residents have gone on to champion the underserved populations. Faculty and former resident Dr. Hitzeman is involved with the local Latino population and program director Dr. Marion Leff with the Middle Eastern population. Former resident Dr. Robert Martinez is completing his National Health Service in the underserved mountain populations north of Los Angeles. Former resident Dr. Matthew Rosenberg cares for an indigent population in Winters California and prior to that worked with County Health. Former resident Dr. Heather Lucas-Ross returned to her home town of Grass Valley in the Sierras to care for the large local Medicaid population. Former resident Dr. Betsy Meux is a champion for the indigent Latino population in Davis through Communicare.
Ombudsman (advisor) to the residents is Sutter physician Dr. Jose Arevalo. He is a champion of minority populations in California. Perhaps having secretly mastered teleportation, he seems to have amassed scores of academic roles and accolades. He was the first recipient of the California Latino Medical Association Lifetime Achievement Award and is founding President and Chair of the Sacramento Latino Medical Association.
A number of residents and faculty have also served abroad (see our Slideshows section), but as we all know, you don’t have to go that far to find underserved populations! With so many opportunities and so much community need, one physician makes a difference and many physicians together make miracles happen.
What will be your calling?