CHI Franciscan’s new residency program will help increase number of doctors in region

Peninsula residents might have an easier time finding a local doctor thanks to a new residency program from CHI Franciscan.

The inaugural class of the CHI Franciscan’s Northwest Washington Family Medicine Residency Program began this month, according to a company press release. The residency program, based in Bremerton, is designed to train the next generation of family physicians, addressing the urgent local and national shortage of primary care physicians. The program will create the single largest collection of primary-care physicians on the Peninsula, increasing access to care for families across the region.

The residency program will add eight new residents each year, for a total of 24 students within three years. Residents will be based at Harrison Medical Center in East Bremerton until 2020, then move to CHI Franciscan’s new state-of-the-art outpatient clinic in West Bremerton. The inaugural class of residents will graduate June 30, 2021, the press release stated.

“This comprehensive, community-based training enables physicians to care for the whole person over a lifetime,” Michael Watson, founding program director, stated in the press release. “Our goal is to train people who can care for everyone, and we know that if we embed them into the community, it makes it easier for them to slip into practice here and stay long term. Statistically, about 60 percent of residents remain to practice within 50 miles of their training site.”

Eight residents from across the country were chosen from more than 1,100 applicants for the three-year training program. The community-based program will train residents in obstetrics, pediatrics, cardiology, endocrinology, sports medicine, geriatrics, substance abuse and a host of in-office procedures, according to the press release. Resident training will include caring for patients in the outpatient clinic, making hospital rounds at Harrison Medical Center and working with other local health-related agencies. Residents also will engage in various volunteer opportunities at local non-profits such as the food bank.

The Northwest Family Medicine Residency inaugural class includes;

• Casey Kernan of Salem, Oregon
  
  
• Khuyen Tran of Lakewood
  
  
• John Rambo of Gurnee, Illinois
  
  
• Jacob Van Fleet of Houston
  
  
• Justin Carlson of Phoenix
  
  
• Neel Chheda of Youngstown, Ohio
  
  
• So Lee of Henderson, Nevada
  
  
• Jonathan Amkraut of Seattle