St. Elizabeth Hospital Foundation awarded $35,000 grant for UW residency program
Grant allows Calumet Medical Center to address the need for more doctors in rural areas
09 / 21 / 2012
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Maria Nelson, Media Relations
Affinity Health System
(920) 720-1752
(920) 554-0686 (pager)
CHILTON, Wis.— Calumet Medical Center (CMC) received a $35,000 Rural Education Development Grant last month to establish a Rural Training Track residency program within the University of Wisconsin system.
The Wisconsin Rural Physician Residency Assistance Program (WRPRAP) awarded the grant, which allows the CMC to collaborate with UW-Madison’s Fox Valley Residency Program. The program will primarily focus on training doctors for rural medical practice.
“We are honored to receive this grant and carry out our goal to expose residents to our hospital and clinic community, allowing them to experience the benefits of practicing rural medicine,” said Tim Richman, president of Calumet Medical Center. “In response to the need for more rural doctors, this grant allows us to nurture the interest and success of rural health care.”
The community-based program would allow residents to experience rural medicine prior to completing their education. This program specifically aims to prepare physicians for the broader practice scope required of rural primary care providers.
The WRPRAP was created and funded by the Wisconsin State Legislature in 2010 to expand and prepare the rural physician workforce in Wisconsin by creating new Graduate Medical Education training sites in rural areas and enhancing existing sites.
“The program from the WRPRAP grant will encourage medical students to practice in small communities,” said Tonya Dedering, executive director of St. Elizabeth Hospital Foundation and Volunteer Services, which provides support to CMC. “With this type of support, our facilities can become valuable partners for training the rural Wisconsin medical workforce of the future. This award shows our commitment to health care in our community along with a strong partnership with the UW program.”
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For the Editor:
Affinity Health System, a faith-based regional health care network, is the Fox Valley’s second-largest employer, according to the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce & Industry. For the fourth consecutive year, Affinity has been named one of the nation’s top 64 health systems based on clinical performance according to Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of health care. For ten consecutive years, Affinity Health System has been named to the SDI (formerly Verispan) Integrated Health Network Top 100, an annual assessment of the 100 most highly integrated health care networks in the nation. Both St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton and Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh rank among the top 1 percent of hospitals nationwide in terms of quality and efficiency, as determined by the 2007 Premier | CareScience Select practice National Quality Award. Members of Affinity include Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Health Foundation, Oshkosh; St. Elizabeth Hospital and the St. Elizabeth Hospital Foundation, Appleton; Affinity Medical Group, a regional network of 25 family practice and specialty clinics – 22 of which are recognized as NCQA Level III medical homes, the highest level of recognition – in 14 communities; Calumet Medical Center, Chilton; and Affinity Occupational Health.