PULLMAN, WA—On Thursday, September 22nd Pullman Regional Hospital and Washington State University will celebrate collaborative efforts to create a Family Medicine Residency program, with designated clinical space for learning and patient care, located inside Pullman Regional Hospital.
The community is invited to attend celebratory activities including a ribbon cutting and tours of the Family Medicine Residency Center and the hospital’s Orthopedic Center of Excellence. The event starts at 4pm on the ground floor of Pullman Regional Hospital with welcome remarks by Scott Adams, Pullman Regional Hospital CEO and Kirk Schulz, Washington State University President.
“It is time to welcome our community back to their hospital,” said Scott Adams, Pullman Regional Hospital CEO. “Generosity helped us overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and pursue, and ultimately realize bold visions. We want to thank everyone who helped us achieve extraordinary things like a Residency Program partnership with a world-class university and our world-class critical access hospital as well as a regional destination for orthopedic excellence and local school outreach sports medicine.”
Construction of the Family Medicine Residency Center was funded entirely through philanthropy; ongoing fundraising will continue to support the program through a collaborative fundraising agreement with WSU and the hospital, providing program supporters with dual recognition.
The Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program – Pullman will welcome its first physician residents in the summer of 2023. Physician residents are practicing doctors who have graduated from medical school and are completing their training in their chosen specialty. Pullman’s three-year family medicine program will welcome up to three new physicians every year, for a full complement of nine physician residents by 2026. Physician residents will see and treat patients in the Residency Center.
Longtime local family medicine physician, Dr. Stephen Hall, serves as the Residency’s Program Director.
“It is common for residents to stay and practice in the same communities of their residency program,” said Dr. Stephen Hall. “Residency programs support more access to primary care today, and they create a recruitment and retention opportunity for our future. Rural communities, like ours, struggle with having enough primary care doctors. This program solves both current needs and future needs to provide better access to primary care.”
Funding for the Residency Center was part of a $7.6 million fundraising campaign, The Next Era of Excellence, managed by the Pullman Regional Hospital Foundation and volunteer campaign cabinet numbers. The campaign was co-chaired by Glenn Johnson, Mayor of Pullman and Wayne Druffel, 4th generation farmer. In addition to funding the Residency Center, funds also supported the Pullman Regional Hospital Orthopedic Center of Excellence with state-of-the-art imaging equipment, expansion of orthopedic patient care space and support for the hospital’s Regional High School Athletic Training Program.
Event attendees will have the opportunity to tour both spaces as the hospital’s first open house event since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event is free and open to the public; no RSVP is needed. Masks continue to be a Washington State requirement for healthcare settings; a supply will be available at the main entrance of the hospital.
Learn more about how to support the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program – Pullman at www.pullmanregional.org/residency-program
Contact: Alison Weigley, Director of External Relations
Pullman Regional Hospital & Foundation
Office: (509) 332-2041 / Cell: (509) 330-0242
alison.weigley@pullmanregional.org
August 30, 2022
