Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/413646
www.christusspohn.org Residency programs at CHRISTUS Spohn Health System are training medical school graduates to become the next generation of outstanding physicians. In an exam room at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi–South, four residents huddle around an OB/GYN physician. She is performing an ultrasound on a woman in her 18th week of pregnancy. On the monitor, the outline of a baby suddenly comes into focus. The residents are studiously taking notes, but the OB/GYN physician stops them. "Look," she says, inviting the residents to share in this special moment with the mother-to-be. An awed silence fills the room as they watch the tiny heart beat. Everyone smiles. "This is the moment you'll live for." PASSION IMPARTED Scenes like this one have been playing out in Corpus Christi for more than four decades, thanks to the CHRISTUS Spohn Family Medicine Residency Program. The program started in 1973 with the goal of preparing recent medical school graduates for the field of family medicine. The three-year program enrolls 12 new residents each year for a total of 36 residents at any given time. "Our reputation for hands-on learning is what really draws our applicants," says Yvonne Hinojosa, MD, Director of the Family Medicine Residency Program. "They like the variety of conditions and life stages that they're exposed to here. Most of all, they like being able to work with physicians who are passionate about learning and teaching." BRINGING THE BRIGHTEST TO THE COASTAL BEND The Family Medicine Residency Program consistently attracts a strong pool of applicants from renowned medical schools at the University of Texas, Texas A&M College of Medicine and elsewhere. In its 40-year history, the program has earned a national reputation for giving residents the unique opportunity to care for underserved communities of the Coastal Bend. Dr. Hinojosa says the challenges and rewards of rural medicine help prepare her residents beyond what a typical residency program would. "We provide them with real learning op- portunities," Dr. Hinojosa says. "They already have a great medical education. Our job is to mold them into excellent practitioners who are Tomorrow's Healers EQUIPPING Brandon Close, DO, visits with Albert Tinney in the trauma bay at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital–Memorial.