Grass Valley, Calif. July 24, 2019 – The Boards of Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation (SNMHF) and Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital (SNMH) are proud to announce the Hospital Foundation has been awarded a $750,000 federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Residency Planning and Development Program grant.
Funding will support the development of a Dignity Health Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Family Medicine Rural Training Tract Program for primary care physicians. A Rural Training Tract program is a residency program designed to train family physicians in the needs of a rural community.
Dr. Glenn Gookin, MD and Hospitalist at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital was the visionary for this project. Dr. Gookin completed his residency at Dignity Health’s Methodist Family Medicine Residency program in Sacramento and understood what an advantage this could mean for our rural community. “This is a tremendous achievement,” Dr. Gookin stated. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, but the benefits of this program include enhanced recruitment and retention of graduates who then choose to practice in our rural community. It will also support heightened referrals to Hospital’s specialists and ancillary services.”
Joining in the planning and development of this effort will be Chapa-De Indian Health Clinic in Grass Valley, as well as Methodist Hospital and Mercy Family Medical Clinic in Sacramento. Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital’s plan is to develop a program where the Postgraduate Year One will train at the urban sites of Methodist Hospital of Sacramento and Mercy Family Medical Clinic, with rotations in Grass Valley. In Postgraduate Year Two and Postgraduate Year Three, residents will train locally with rounding at the Hospital and sub-specialties.
The recruitment and retention of physicians has been a high priority for Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital for many years. SNMH Foundation’s Executive Director Kimberly Parker commented “A top priority is to increase rural providers to meet workforce needs of our region in the future. What continues to set our community apart is the ability to bring partners together to collaborate on efforts that will best serve the medical needs of our community.”
Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation was one of 26 programs chosen nationally and two in California to receive this grant. This falls on the heels of another recent $175,000 Public Health Institute grant received focusing on the creation of a Rural Communities Opioid Response Program. That grant is being led by Dr. Nathan Claydon, SNMH Hospitalist and Emergency Department Physician Dr. Carl Alsup.
For more information, please call SNMHF Executive Director Kimberly Parker at (530) 477-9700. To learn more about Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation, visit www.supportsierranevada.org.