New class of doctors start residency
In order to be licensed to practice medicine, new medical school graduates need to spend three years receiving post-graduate training at an accredited residency program.
That training looks a bit different in the age of COVID-19, says the residency program lead at St. Joseph Hospital.
“Lots of patient interactions have to be done by videoconferencing,” said Dr. Bruce Kessler, who has been practicing medicine in Humboldt County for more than 40 years.
The young residents in St. Joseph Hospital’s family medicine residency program, to which seven additional physicians were added June 30, bringing the total number of residents in the program to 12, have been adjusting better than some of the older doctors who oversee and supervise their training, Kessler said.
First-year resident Dr. Joshua Echeverria said it was kind of exciting because the last major pandemic was over a hundred years ago, but both doctors said it was nice being a bit removed from the epicenters of the outbreaks.
“I haven’t seen any patients with it so far,” Echeverria said.
Even with some alterations to how care is delivered, such as needing to wear personal protective equipment, Kessler said the residents split their time between working in Open Door Community
Health Center’s outpatient clinic in Eureka, the Redwood Community Health Center, delivering adult and pediatric care, and the adjacent St. Joseph Hospital. There they take care of patients in the intensive care unit, emergency room and also deliver babies, he said.
St. Joseph Hospital has a variety of specialized services that aren’t available in other areas, providing additional training for the doctors, he said.
“If anyone in our three-county area has a major trauma, this is where they’re brought,” Kessler said.
Working with doctors within both health care systems and the community, the residents are going to become familiar with a variety of
areas of medicine, ranging from dermatology to cardiology. Doctors in the Bay Area might be able to refer their patients to a cardiologist if they have a heart issue, but doctors in rural areas need to be able to treat their patients without the aid of specialists who may not always be available, Kessler said.
“There’s been a real outpouring of interest and enthusiasm of very many members of our medical community who are volunteering their time to help educate our young doctors,” Kessler said.
That was one thing that drew Echeverria to the program, he said, because doctors in rural areas need to know a little bit about everything in order to properly help people where specialists might not be as easily accessible.
“You have to deal with every kind of situation that a patient can have,” Echeverria said.
The first-year resident said he saw a need for primary care doctors in rural areas, especially after serving in the Peace Corps in both Mozambique and the Philippines.
Kessler said he’s hoping having the residency program in the community will keep some of the newly trained physicians in the area.
“Nationwide there’s a statistic that half of all physicians practice within a hundred miles of where they completed their residency program,” he said.
Echeverria, who is originally from Los Angeles, said Humboldt County seems like the place he would want to stick around because of the redwoods and friendly people.
“I feel more relaxed here than I did in L.A.,” he said.