May 12, 1997
UW MEDEX satellite training site to remain in Yakima
The University of Washington will maintain a full two-year Yakima training site for its MEDEX Program, UW officials announced today, in addition to establishing a new satellite site in Spokane this fall.
The decision follows successful efforts by state Sen. Alex Deccio (14th Dist., Yakima) to restore primary care training funds. A total of $327,000 for the MEDEX program will allow the Yakima site to proceed.
“The medical school is very grateful to the Legislature, and particularly to Senator Deccio, for restoring this year’s funding to the UW for this important primary care training program,” said Dr. John B. Coombs, acting vice president for medical affairs and acting dean of the School of Medicine. “It will enhance the UW’s ability to develop a much-needed interdisciplinary approach to health professions education in which students in the physician assistant program, medical students and residents in Yakima can train together as a health-care team.”
The site was established in 1994 to provide two-year training for place-bound students working toward second careers as physician assistants, with the understanding that this need would be met within a few years.
“When the UW indicated that it would move the program to Spokane in the fall of 1997, we very quickly discovered that people really wanted us to stay in Yakima, as well,” said Ruth Ballweg, director of the UW MEDEX Program. “This was most gratifying.”
Echoing Ballweg’s comment, Dr. Glenn M. Doornick, a family physician in Wapato, Wash., said that “a lot of people in the local area came to me over the past several months because they knew I was the chair of the advisory committee for MEDEX Northwest. They told me that they really wanted the program to stay in Yakima. The community is very excited about this new development and is looking forward to continuing its relationship with the UW.”
Ballweg said the Yakima MEDEX site would provide family medicine-oriented training for up to 12 full-time students working to become physician assistants. The Spokane site will offer training for the same number of students. The net effect, Ballweg noted, is that “there will be better physician assistant training coverage than ever before throughout eastern Washington.”
“This serves everyone’s interests, including, certainly, those who continue to be adversely affected by the physician shortage in the Yakima area, and central Washington” said Deccio. “I could not be more pleased with the way this has turned out.”
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