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As a women’s health nurse practitioner, I am passionate about improving healthcare here in Mendocino County. In addition to my role as a provider, I also have the privilege of supporting doctors-in-training by precepting residents in the Ukiah Valley Residency Program. These residents are licensed physicians who complete a rigorous three-year program to learn about the broad scope of family medicine.
Residency programs like this strengthen healthcare systems across the country. They can be especially beneficial in rural regions like ours where we struggle to recruit enough providers. My work with the program has allowed me to witness firsthand the quality of providers participating in the residency program and the ways their contributions strengthen care delivery across our entire region.
The Ukiah Valley Residency Program launched in 2019 and is sponsored educationally by the University of California, Davis, and clinically by Adventist Health. The three-year program has six residents per class, meaning there are 18 participants at any given time. The residents are fully licensed doctors of medicine (MDs) or doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs).
Through the program, residents get daily hands-on experience in many areas, including pediatrics, adult medicine, geriatrics, women’s health, inpatient and outpatient care and even surgical assistance. Each resident operates under the supervision of an attending physician, providing care within their scope of practice. The residents treat a large volume of patients every day, rapidly expanding their experience.
Currently, residents in the program primarily complete their rotations in Ukiah. We are working toward expanding rotations to Fort Bragg and other communities on the coast. Locally, there are many opportunities for future residents to provide services and meet gaps in care.
Residency program increases healthcare access
The residency program is a major asset to our region. More doctors means more care. The program increases the number of providers in our area, which significantly eases the provider shortage. These residents also bring fresh knowledge and passion for their work, integrating the latest evidence-based practices into local care.
In 2019, when the first class of residents was being seated in a white coat ceremony, Mendocino Coast Clinic’s executive director, Lucresha Renteria, was in the audience. She shared how inspiring it was to see an influx of passionate, skilled providers choosing to invest in our community as a place to learn new skills. As we face a shift in the medical landscape following COVID-19 and the large number of medical providers who retired from practice during those years, we are once again at a point where we need to recruit and retain family medicine providers — and the residency program helps us do that.
Residents can put down roots in Mendocino County
Those of us who work in the program are deeply invested in these providers and would love to see them choose to stay long-term. We hope residents will see the beauty and the healthcare needs throughout the county, and that once they form relationships here, they’ll decide to put down roots.
This is already happening! Dr. Cara Eberhardt decided to remain here after completing the residency program. Not only does Dr. Eberhardt provide family medical care, but she chose to receive additional training in addiction medicine through a fellowship at UC Davis.
My experience as a preceptor in the residency program continues to be rewarding. I love seeing how these new physicians bring fresh knowledge, energy and a passion for providing rural healthcare that energizes the entire provider network. I hope all of us living on the coast can encourage community support for these residents, and that the residents become the next generation of providers to call Mendocino County home.
But are these residents going to be able to work with Texaco Mike?
The family medicine residency program has been hugely impactful to our community in a short amount of time, and it never would have happened if a small group of dedicated, private citizens hadn’t come together to form FMEMC, Family Medicine Education for Mendocino County, a tiny group that worked with the hospital, advocated tirelessly to create a residency program, and held “Rural Health Rocks” concerts that raised several hundred thousand dollars (!!) to help create the program. We should all be grateful to this group of folks who helped bring more doctors into our communities!