YRMC residency program receives first Yuma native
During the four years since its creation in 2013, the Yuma Regional Medical Center Family and Community Residency Program could not boast a Yuma native among its trainees — until now.
It was only a year ago that the program graduated its first set of residents — four women who went on to pursue their endeavors in various areas.
Now, YRMC is welcoming the Class of 2020 to the Residency Program and will include, for the first time, a doctor who grew up in Yuma, according to Darin Fenger, corporate communication specialist at the hospital.
In the past, residents of the program have hailed from all over the world and the program has included one person from across the border, but Dr. Alfonso Téllez will be the first Yuman to join the residency program.
Every year, the program receives around 2,000 applications and only about five or six are selected for the program.
To get to into the residency program, students must spend around four to five years at a university as an undergraduate and about another three years at premedical school. Those selected will then spend about three years in YRMC’s residency program.
Prior to applying for a residency with Yuma Regional Medical Center, Tellez attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he resided for ten years after taking some classes at Arizona Western College.
Tellez also worked as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for a year and a half at the Crossroads
Mission in Yuma before moving on to university.
His medical interests include urgent care, sports medicine and underserved communities. Tellez recalled his youth in Yuma and the size of the hospital at the time.
“Back then it was really small and it took people a while sometimes to get seated or to get into the hospital,” Tellez said. “There was always an obvious need for more physicians. I think it was just the norm — everybody kind of thought little hospital, little town.”
He noted there was one particular moment when he knew becoming a doctor was a right choice for his future.
“Growing up the one point where I decided to be a physician was something as simple as watching ‘Doctors Without Borders’ on TV,” he said. “It was something that I was really interested in and something that I felt was a calling for me.”
Before moving to university, Tellez explained his experience with local doctors further reassured him that he made the right decision for his career.
“I started shadowing different physicians around town, most notably doctors Kimberly and Matthew Dickson,” Tellez said. “They were in the emergency room and wound care at that point and I spent three months with them. That kind of solidified my desire to go into it. They started being role models for me and helping me kind of decide on paths for a future career and those kinds of majors.”
His decision to come back to Yuma also began with a pair of role models and his desire to be close to loved ones.
“During medical school — it was my third year — I did a rotation down here in Yuma for family medicine,” Tellez said. “It was with doctor Ricky Ochoa and doctor Kristina Diaz who is currently my (residency) program director. I honestly came down because I wanted to spend more time with my family and it turned out to be during Thanksgiving.”
Being back in the closeknit community of Yuma also enticed him to return back to his hometown, he noted.
“Working with them for about a month or soit really called into me,” Tellez said. “I felt like it was everything I enjoyed about it and I liked emergency medicine because it was kind of hands on and helping people in a moment of crisis. When I had the opportunity to work with doctor Diaz and doctor Ochoa, I could see that their patients really loved them and they were just anxious to come, be seen with them, give them a hug and spend time with them.”
“That is something that I definitely wanted,” Tellez added. “I wanted to have that connection with the patients and build a repertoire or take care of their kids and have that kind of continued care. I would always come down at least once a year for the holidays and spend time with family so I got to see Yuma grow in phases.”
With the growth, Tellez said that the hospital has grown too, and so has the need for physicians.
“I think there is still that desire to have physicians stay in town,” Tellez said. “The city has grown very quickly and I think a lot of us see it on a day-to-day basis that the hospital has grown significantly in the last few years and we always have a busy winter season.”