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The physician shortage isn’t only a convenience issue. For people living in urban areas like the North and South sides of Milwaukee, lack of access to health care is a high-stakes contribution to the disproportionately negative health outcomes plaguing these communities. It’s why Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin recently launched two four-year residency programs that train doctors at established community clinics in some of the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.
Along with providing valuable educational opportunities for med school grads, the programs create access to quality primary care. Situated on the North and South sides of the city, the programs and their residents primarily serve patients who may not have the resources to search endlessly for a primary care doctor, who lack reliable transportation to more distant clinics or who may have language barriers.
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The effort also works to address the local physician shortage, both now and in the future. “Most residents stay in the states they train in, and we’re hoping many of ours will continue to work with minority populations,” says Dr. Sabrina Hofmeister, a family medicine physician and program director at the South Side Family Medicine Residency Program.
Each clinic selects resident physicians, supervised by Froedtert and MCW doctors, who have a personal connection to the culture they serve. On the North Side, that means many of the 14 residents are Black, and on the South Side, the six providers often speak Spanish with their primarily Latinx patients. “We’re trying to bring in physicians that reflect the community they’re serving so we can make sure they have a full understanding of who it is they’re caring for,” says Dr. Camille Garrison, a family medicine physician and program director of the North Side site.
Because the residents are trained in an academic setting where they learn from other types of doctors, Garrison says, they can provide more comprehensive medical services – whether someone needs OB/GYN care or a knee injection for arthritis – reducing the need to shop around for specialists. All of the resident providers are also trained in community medicine, which means they help connect patients to local resources, like food banks or transportation providers. “The best way to care for someone is often directing them to resources that support their whole health,” says Garrison.
By training residents to care for underserved communities, the programs are kindling lasting relationships among doctors and the patients they serve – and in doing so, improving health outcomes across the city. Hofmeister notes, for example, the physicians are already seeing improvements in rates of diabetes prevention and cancer screenings. “It’s a great investment we’ve made in the local community,” she says.
